Unfortunately it got beat out by the massive Zaku, but that wasn't unexpected really.

Check out the full BFVA photoset! www.flickr.com/photos/legojunkie/sets/72157645800667340/

A quick play tonight. I gave myself 30 minutes and 2 photos to come up with something. I like the self imposed limits or I will endlessly tweak things.

Original

A Muse

-----------

A solitary reflection

Or a moment within time

Both are so fleeting

Both are sublime

Within your restless spirit

Where panics collide

Digs with bloody fingers

Till the fears all subside

In a moment of creation

Where the will must bend

Is a beginning for one

For another, an end.

A solitary reflection

Is to look deep inside

Where the eyes are all telling

And a muse will provide.

Thank you sooo much to all our kind supporters who nominated us for this year (2014) the Avi Choice Awards.

Vote for us and all your favorites here: avichoiceawards.com/fashion-awards-vote-here/

Nominated for best of 2006

flickr

Having visited the Stirling Prize nominated Blavatnik School on it's first open day I was keen to get back in there for the recent OPT Open Doors event. I made a beeline straight for this amazing concrete spiral stair and it took a bit of patience but I got the shot I was looking for with just one person in what I thought was the optimum place in the frame.

Click here for more shots of Herzog & de Meuron buildings : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/albums/72157622982082489

From Wikipedia : "The Blavatnik School of Government is located in the University of Oxford's Radcliffe Observatory Quarter on Woodstock Road, however its main entrance is on Walton Street. The building is designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron to promote open discussion, interaction and collaboration. The central forum is inspired by the idea of openness and transparency and connects all the floors together. Construction work started in autumn 2013, after some controversy, and ended in late 2015. The building is controlled by a combination of systems and technology that helps minimise its environmental impact.

The building is taller than Carfax Tower in the centre of Oxford, this dominating the site and causing opposition to the scheme by local residents in the Jericho district of the city and elsewhere. The site is immediately to the south of the café/bar Freud, in the historic 1836 Greek revival St Paul's Church on Walton Street. The scheme has been opposed by the cafe's owner, David Freud, due to its size compared to the church building. The site is also opposite the classical Oxford University Press building. In Spring 2013, a public meeting was held in St Barnabas Church and the building was described as "a concrete marshmallow".

My Website : Twitter : Facebook : Instagram

© D.Godliman

Designed in MecaBricks

www.mecabricks.com/en/models/X1k2qMJo2E0

Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) males were out in force this morning & in all 3 colour forms.

This is the nominate mature male form with just segments ( 9 & 10 of the abdomen with blue colour

Di Linh, Vietnam

An update of the Bruce McBroom shots of Farrah

Fawcett that made her a superstar poster girl!

Farrah as painted, styled by artist Cruz for www.myfarrah.com.

Farrah is on facebook www.facebook.com/FLFawcett &

oOn Tumblr at; farrahlenifawcett.tumblr.com

Photo/Graphic Layout & web sites www.ncruz.com & www.myfarrah.com by www.stevemckinnis.com.

Humayun's Tomb - built in 1570. UNESCO World Heritage Building.

Location : Nizamuddin , New Delhi ( India )

More @ : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humayun's_Tomb

First Presbyterian Church was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under criterion A for its local significance in religion, and under criterion C as a locally significant example of a Neo-Classical church building in Cookeville. The church was born out of a schism resulting from the union of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church with the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America that took place during the early years of the twentieth century. Architecturally the building is a good example of late Neo Classical architecture in Cookeville. Built in 1909, the style of the church is seen in the gable ends with pediments and strong cornice lines, and the colonnaded entry porch.

The origins of First Presbyterian Church trace back to the nationwide merger of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) in 1905. Though officially united, not everyone felt that way in Cookeville or across the state of Tennessee. At a meeting on September 11, 1906, only three Tennessee Presbyteries showed any support for uniting with the PCUSA, Cookeville Presbytery, McMinnville Presbytery, and the Lebanon Presbytery. Those opposed to the merger agreed to meet in Dickson, Tennessee, at the birthplace of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on Thursday May 3, 1907. Discussions over whether to remain a Cumberland Presbyterian Church or a member of the PCUSA led to dissension in the Cookeville congregation that later caused a schism.

Meanwhile the Building Committee and trustees, Jesse Arnold, Jeff Dyer, and W.D. Ferrell, searched for property to buy in order to erect a new building. On November 22, 1909, trustees of the Building Committee closed on the sale of the Hunter property. Ironically or spitefully, for records do not indicate, the lot sat directly across the street from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on the northwest corner of Broad & Madison streets. They purchased the land from Jere Whitson and held a public groundbreaking later that month. The design of the new church adopted the Akron floor plan with an offset pulpit and no center aisle. The Building Committee launched an aggressive campaign to raise funds to pay for constructing and furnishing the new church. They prevailed upon members and non-members alike and kept detailed records. Ruling Elder and founder of the Bank of Putnam County, Jesse Arnold, donated the hefty sum of $1250, while elder Jeff Dyer contributed $1000. Future Supreme Court Justice Dick L. Lansden gave $750. Many others paid with either cash or sweat equity as the construction progressed.

Foundations for the building were laid in November of 1909 and the cornerstone laid in 1910. Construction began in earnest around the middle of April. Though the building was not yet completed, eager members began meeting in the church sometime in September of 1910. The building’s furnishings were completed in April of 1911, and the sanctuary was officially dedicated on August 20, 1911 by Dr. Thomas A. Whittington, the same pastor who dedicated the Cumberland Church across the street in 1894. During the service he presented the congregation with keys to the completed structure, announced that construction costs totaled $10,000, and declared all debts owed by the church were paid in full.

On December 28, 2010, the church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). All of the information above (and much more) was found on the original documents submitted for listing consideration and can be viewed here:

catalog.archives.gov/id/135819419

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/

I was nominated to show some nature photos. Since it was a Grey and dull day today, and there was a big huge sports event yesterday, the picture name speaks for itself. And don't worry this is just a short piece of long line.

So instead a more or less monochrome ore mostly desaturated nature picture

The sports event, was Red Bull Crashed Ice Race in Munich. If you want to see 4 people racing downhill on a small ice rink, go youtube and have a look.

The event was at the olympic park in Munich. The Munich Olympic park was created for the Olympic games 1972.

Blue Whistling Thrush

(Nominate with a black bill)

The blue whistling thrush (Myophonus caeruleus) is a whistling thrush present in the mountains of Central Asia, China and Southeast Asia. It is known for its loud human-like whistling song at dawn and dusk. The widely distributed populations show variations in size and plumage with several of them considered as subspecies. Like others in the genus, they feed on the ground, often along streams and in damp places foraging for snails, crabs, fruits and insects.

This whistling thrush is dark violet blue with shiny spangling on the tips of the body feathers other than on the lores, abdomen and under the tail. The wing coverts are a slightly different shade of blue and the median coverts have white spots at their tips. The bill is yellow and stands in contrast. The inner webs of the flight and tail feathers is black. The sexes are similar in plumage.

It measures 31–35 cm (12–14 in) in length. Weight across the subspecies can range from 136 to 231 g (4.8 to 8.1 oz). For comparison, the blue whistling thrush commonly weighs twice as much as an American robin. Among standard measurements, the wing chord can measure 15.5–20 cm (6.1–7.9 in) long, the tarsus is 4.5–5.5 cm (1.8–2.2 in) and the bill is 2.9–4.6 cm (1.1–1.8 in). Size varies across the range with larger thrushes found to the north of the species range and slightly smaller ones to the south, corresponding with Bergmann's rule. In northern China, males and females average 188 g (6.6 oz) and 171 g (6.0 oz), whereas in India they average 167.5 g (5.91 oz) and 158.5 g (5.59 oz).

Several populations are given subspecies status. The nominate form with a black bill is found in central and eastern China. The population in Afghanistan, turkestanicus, is often included in the widespread temminckii which has a smaller bill width at the base and is found along the Himalayas east to northern Burma. The population eugenei, which lacks white spots on the median coverts, is found south into Thailand. Cambodia and the Malay peninsula have crassirostris, while dichrorhynchus with smaller spangles occurs further south and in Sumatra. The Javan population, flavirostris, has the thickest bill. The subspecies status of several populations has been questioned.

It is found along the Tian Shan and Himalayas, in temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. The species ranges across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tibet, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. They make altitudinal movements in the Himalayas, descending in winter.

The blue whistling thrush is usually found singly or in pairs. They hop on rocks and move about in quick spurts. They turn over leaves and small stones, cocking their head and checking for movements of prey. When alarmed they spread and droop their tail. They are active well after dusk and during the breeding season (April to August) they tend to sing during the darkness of dawn and dusk when few other birds are calling. The call precedes sunrise the most during November. The alarm call is a shrill kree. The nest is a cup of moss and roots placed in a ledge or hollow beside a stream. The usual clutch consists of 3 to 4 eggs, the pair sometimes raising a second brood. They feed on fruits, earthworms, insects, crabs and snails. Snails and crabs are typically battered on a rock before feeding. In captivity, they have been known to kill and eat mice and in the wild have been recorded preying on small birds.

Blue Whistling Thrush

(Nominate with a black bill)

The blue whistling thrush (Myophonus caeruleus) is a whistling thrush present in the mountains of Central Asia, China and Southeast Asia. It is known for its loud human-like whistling song at dawn and dusk. The widely distributed populations show variations in size and plumage with several of them considered as subspecies. Like others in the genus, they feed on the ground, often along streams and in damp places foraging for snails, crabs, fruits and insects.

This whistling thrush is dark violet blue with shiny spangling on the tips of the body feathers other than on the lores, abdomen and under the tail. The wing coverts are a slightly different shade of blue and the median coverts have white spots at their tips. The bill is yellow and stands in contrast. The inner webs of the flight and tail feathers is black. The sexes are similar in plumage.

It measures 31–35 cm (12–14 in) in length. Weight across the subspecies can range from 136 to 231 g (4.8 to 8.1 oz). For comparison, the blue whistling thrush commonly weighs twice as much as an American robin. Among standard measurements, the wing chord can measure 15.5–20 cm (6.1–7.9 in) long, the tarsus is 4.5–5.5 cm (1.8–2.2 in) and the bill is 2.9–4.6 cm (1.1–1.8 in). Size varies across the range with larger thrushes found to the north of the species range and slightly smaller ones to the south, corresponding with Bergmann's rule. In northern China, males and females average 188 g (6.6 oz) and 171 g (6.0 oz), whereas in India they average 167.5 g (5.91 oz) and 158.5 g (5.59 oz).

Several populations are given subspecies status. The nominate form with a black bill is found in central and eastern China. The population in Afghanistan, turkestanicus, is often included in the widespread temminckii which has a smaller bill width at the base and is found along the Himalayas east to northern Burma. The population eugenei, which lacks white spots on the median coverts, is found south into Thailand. Cambodia and the Malay peninsula have crassirostris, while dichrorhynchus with smaller spangles occurs further south and in Sumatra. The Javan population, flavirostris, has the thickest bill. The subspecies status of several populations has been questioned.

It is found along the Tian Shan and Himalayas, in temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. The species ranges across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tibet, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. They make altitudinal movements in the Himalayas, descending in winter.

The blue whistling thrush is usually found singly or in pairs. They hop on rocks and move about in quick spurts. They turn over leaves and small stones, cocking their head and checking for movements of prey. When alarmed they spread and droop their tail. They are active well after dusk and during the breeding season (April to August) they tend to sing during the darkness of dawn and dusk when few other birds are calling. The call precedes sunrise the most during November. The alarm call is a shrill kree. The nest is a cup of moss and roots placed in a ledge or hollow beside a stream. The usual clutch consists of 3 to 4 eggs, the pair sometimes raising a second brood. They feed on fruits, earthworms, insects, crabs and snails. Snails and crabs are typically battered on a rock before feeding. In captivity, they have been known to kill and eat mice and in the wild have been recorded preying on small birds.

Crested Myna. Photographed near the Xingjiang River at Dutou, Jiangxi Province, China on 12 January 2019. Nominate subspecies cristatellus.

A European Roller in the Marataba Game Reserve, near Thabazimbi in South Africa.

The European roller (Coracias garrulus) is the only member of the roller family of birds to breed in Europe. Its overall range extends into the Middle East and Central Asia and Morocco.

There are two subspecies: the nominate garrulus, which breeds from in north Africa from Morocco east to Tunisia, southwest and south-central Europe and Asia Minor east through northwest Iran to southwest Siberia; and semenowi, which breeds in Iraq and Iran (except northwest) east to Kashmir and north to Turkmenistan, south Kazakhstan and northwest China (west Xinjiang). The European roller is a long-distance migrant, wintering in southern Africa in two distinct regions, from Senegal east to Cameroon and from Ethiopia west to Congo and south to South Africa.

It is a bird of warm, dry, open country with scattered trees, preferring lowland open countryside with patches of oak Quercus forest, mature pine Pinus woodland with heathery clearings, orchards, mixed farmland, river valleys, and plains with scattered thorny or leafy trees. It winters primarily in dry wooded savanna and bushy plains, where it typically nests in tree holes.

There's still time to nominate your favorite Flickr photographers for Photographer of the Month! Or - new this month - nominate yourself!

This month’s theme: Wildlife & Animal Photographers.

Join us in Flickr Social and add your favorite photographers to the discussion!

Photo ©: stephen Winfield

Good News!! My photo will be exhibited in Berlin! 🇩🇪

I am very excited to know that my work Temptations has been nominated for the BBA One Shot Award, and my photo will be exhibited in Berlin in the gorgeous BBA Gallery in November! I am the only one from Canada among the 50 nominees chosen worldwide this year.

I got nominated by SintHonya and ♥ SineVoce ♥

This is actually an ongoing photo challenge on Facebook that Cholo decided to bring here on flickr... the game, for every day for the next 5 days post one black and white photo of your dolls and for each day you nominate 1 or more flickr friends to do the same. GAME!

------------------------------

I nominate:

simyna77

If you want to join but no one nominated you, you can always join the game.

European Goldfinch (nominate) (Stillits / Carduelis carduelis carduelis) from Pinar de Son Real (Sta. Margalida, Mallorca, Spain). May 2016.

Canon EOS 70D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L USM IS.

The photo is part of a European Goldfinch set.

Blue Whistling Thrush

(Nominate with a black bill)

The blue whistling thrush (Myophonus caeruleus) is a whistling thrush present in the mountains of Central Asia, China and Southeast Asia. It is known for its loud human-like whistling song at dawn and dusk. The widely distributed populations show variations in size and plumage with several of them considered as subspecies. Like others in the genus, they feed on the ground, often along streams and in damp places foraging for snails, crabs, fruits and insects.

This whistling thrush is dark violet blue with shiny spangling on the tips of the body feathers other than on the lores, abdomen and under the tail. The wing coverts are a slightly different shade of blue and the median coverts have white spots at their tips. The bill is yellow and stands in contrast. The inner webs of the flight and tail feathers is black. The sexes are similar in plumage.

It measures 31–35 cm (12–14 in) in length. Weight across the subspecies can range from 136 to 231 g (4.8 to 8.1 oz). For comparison, the blue whistling thrush commonly weighs twice as much as an American robin. Among standard measurements, the wing chord can measure 15.5–20 cm (6.1–7.9 in) long, the tarsus is 4.5–5.5 cm (1.8–2.2 in) and the bill is 2.9–4.6 cm (1.1–1.8 in). Size varies across the range with larger thrushes found to the north of the species range and slightly smaller ones to the south, corresponding with Bergmann's rule. In northern China, males and females average 188 g (6.6 oz) and 171 g (6.0 oz), whereas in India they average 167.5 g (5.91 oz) and 158.5 g (5.59 oz).

Several populations are given subspecies status. The nominate form with a black bill is found in central and eastern China. The population in Afghanistan, turkestanicus, is often included in the widespread temminckii which has a smaller bill width at the base and is found along the Himalayas east to northern Burma. The population eugenei, which lacks white spots on the median coverts, is found south into Thailand. Cambodia and the Malay peninsula have crassirostris, while dichrorhynchus with smaller spangles occurs further south and in Sumatra. The Javan population, flavirostris, has the thickest bill. The subspecies status of several populations has been questioned.

It is found along the Tian Shan and Himalayas, in temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. The species ranges across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tibet, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. They make altitudinal movements in the Himalayas, descending in winter.

The blue whistling thrush is usually found singly or in pairs. They hop on rocks and move about in quick spurts. They turn over leaves and small stones, cocking their head and checking for movements of prey. When alarmed they spread and droop their tail. They are active well after dusk and during the breeding season (April to August) they tend to sing during the darkness of dawn and dusk when few other birds are calling. The call precedes sunrise the most during November. The alarm call is a shrill kree. The nest is a cup of moss and roots placed in a ledge or hollow beside a stream. The usual clutch consists of 3 to 4 eggs, the pair sometimes raising a second brood. They feed on fruits, earthworms, insects, crabs and snails. Snails and crabs are typically battered on a rock before feeding. In captivity, they have been known to kill and eat mice and in the wild have been recorded preying on small birds.

{{BSD Design studio}} is honoured to be nominated as best shoe designer this year , i need your help, please vote for {{BSD Design studio}} if u like the shoes i made:D ( Shoe designer ) - BSD design studio

avichoiceawards.com/vote-for-your-favorite/fashion-catego... ,

and i m flattered and humbled to be nominated as Best model- Babychampagne sass, Please vote for me if u like me lol XD

best Model =

avichoiceawards.com/vote-for-your-favorite/entertainment-...

photographer// babychampagne sas

MAINSHOP:

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kourinbou/156/38/23

BLOG:

babychampagnesass.blogspot.hk/

MARKETPLACE:

marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/123131

Nominate subspecies of American Pika. Scanned slide.

Whistlers Mountain, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

I've been nominated for the 2014 London Model Awards, in the category of "Best Art Scene Model." Please vote for me, if you feel I might be worthy....I've never been nominated for anything before, so I thought I should give it my best shot.

I've helpfully added drawings to the Vote page, above, to indicate how you can vote. (Not that I'm suggesting to anybody who to vote for...:)The link is below- it takes about 2 secs to vote.

www.clubyolo.co.uk/londonmodelawards/best-artistic-scene-...

:)

J'ai été nominé pour le 2014 Londres modèle Awards, dans la catégorie de "Meilleur Art Scène modèle." S'il vous plaît voter pour moi, si vous pensez que je pourrais être digne ....

Je n'ai jamais été nominé pour quoi que ce soit avant, alors j'ai pensé que je devrais donner le meilleur de moi.

J'ai utilement ajouté dessins à la page de vote, ci-dessus, pour indiquer comment vous pouvez voter. (Non pas que je suggère à tous ceux pour qui voter ... :) Le lien est ci-dessous, il faut environ 2 secondes pour voter.

www.clubyolo.co.uk/londonmodelawards/best-artistic-scene-...

He sido nominado para los Premios 2014 de Londres Modelo, en la categoría de "Mejor Escena de Arte Modelo". Por favor, vote por mí, si usted siente que podría ser digno ....

Nunca he sido nominado para nada antes, así que pensé que debía dar lo mejor de mí.

Amablemente he añadido dibujos a la página de voto, por encima, para indicar cómo se puede votar. (No es que yo estoy sugiriendo a nadie por quién votar ... :) El enlace está por debajo de la que se necesita alrededor de 2 segundos para votar.

www.clubyolo.co.uk/londonmodelawards/best-artistic-scene-...

Ich habe für 2014 London Modell Awards nominiert , in der Kategorie "Best Art Scene -Modell. " Bitte stimmen Sie für mich , wenn Sie das Gefühl , ich könnte würdiger sein .... Ich habe noch nie für irgendetwas , bevor nominiert worden , so dass ich dachte, ich sollte mein Bestes zu geben.

Ich habe hilfsbereit aufgenommen Zeichnungen auf den Vote -Seite oben , um anzuzeigen, wie Sie abstimmen können . (Nicht, dass ich vorschlage, an alle, die dafür stimmen ... :) Der Link ist unten , es dauert etwa 2 Sekunden , um abzustimmen.

www.clubyolo.co.uk/londonmodelawards/best-artistic-scene- ...

White-headed nominate subspecies found in Scandinavia and ne Europe to Siberia, n China, Korea and Japan.

Judarskogens naturreservat, Bromma, Stockholm, Sweden

The African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) is the leopard nominate subspecies native to many countries in Africa. The African leopard exhibits great variation in coat color, depending on location and habitat. Coat colour varies from pale yellow to deep gold or tawny, and sometimes black, and is patterned with black rosettes while the head, lower limbs and belly are spotted with solid black. Male leopards are larger, averaging 60 kg (130 lb) with 91 kg (201 lb) being the maximum weight attained by a male. Females weigh about 35 to 40 kg (77 to 88 lb) on average.

Leopards are generally most active between sunset and sunrise, and kill more prey at this time. In Kruger National Park, male leopards and female leopards with cubs were more active at night than solitary females. The highest rates of daytime activity were recorded for leopards using thorn thickets during the wet season, when impala also used them.

The leopard has an exceptional ability to adapt to changes in prey availability, and has a very broad diet. Small prey are taken where large ungulates are less common. The known prey of leopards ranges from dung beetles to adult elands, which can reach 900 kg (2,000 lb). In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 92 prey species have been documented in leopard scat including rodents, birds, small and large antelopes, hyraxes and hares, and arthropods. They generally focus their hunting activity on locally abundant medium-sized ungulates in the 20 to 80 kg (44 to 176 lb) range, while opportunistically taking other prey. Average intervals between ungulate kills range from seven to 12–13 days.

Leopards often hide large kills in trees, a behavior for which great strength is required. There have been several observations of leopards hauling carcasses of young giraffe, estimated to weigh up to 125 kg (276 lb), i.e. 2–3 times the weight of the leopard, up to 5.7 m (19 ft) into trees.

Leopard diet includes reptiles, and they will occasionally take domestic livestock when other food is scarce. Leopards are very stealthy and like to stalk close and run a relatively short distance after their prey. They kill through suffocation by grabbing their prey by the throat and biting down with their powerful jaws. They rarely fight other predators for their food.

In 1981, the National Bus Company (NBC) introduced their upmarket National Express Rapide service in partnership with the well know West Country operator Trathen's. The Rapide service used better quality coaches with features such as air suspension, reclining seats, toilet, refreshments, hostess or steward, video and television. Some of these features were offered by Ribble Motor Services on their 'Gay Hostess' class Leyland Atlantean double-deck coaches during the sixties. The NBC had to hire suitable coaches from Trathen's to use on the new Rapide services. Towards the end of 1981, the NBC drew up the specification of the coach to be used on the Rapide services: it had to be British built, be a rear-engined coach with a power output of at least 245bhp, high-floor and have air suspension. Leyland Bus were known to be developing their own in-house rear-engined integral coach which would be launched in late 1982 but not go into production until 1983. The NBC turned to Hestair Dennis and a few days before Christmas 1981 NBC's engineers had lunch with Dennis' engineers and Dennis accepted to contract (challenge) to design and deliver by the end of April the following year, 10 rear-engine coach chassis to Duple who Dennis nominated to be the bodybuilder. Duple had just launched their high-floor coach called Goldliner. The contract stipulated that the first of the 10 coaches must be delivered by September of 1982, and the rest delivered by the end of 1982. Dennis developed the Falcon V rear-engined chassis which the front of the chassis was shared with the Dennis Dominator double-deck chassis. The Falcon V chassis had a 20ft wheelbase and powered by a rear mounted vertical 10.5-litre V8 Perkins TV8.640 turbocharged diesel engine producing 260bhp at 2400rpm, because a lot of NBC drivers had 'Teflon' (none stick) driving licences, the Falcon had to have a semi or a fully-automatic gearbox, Dennis chose to use a Voith 4-speed fully-automatic gearbox, the drive went to a Eaton 23000 series rear axle to give a top speed of 75mph. Other features of the Falcon V chassis include: air suspension, air brakes, power steering and a front mounted radiator. All 10 Falcon V chassis at a cost of £37,000 each were delivered to Duple Coachbuilders by the end of April 1982, Duple developed a luxury version of their Goldliner body known as the Super Goldliner IV and had a flat roof rather than the stepped roof fitted to the standard version, inside featured 47 reclining Duple seats, central mounted sunken toilet with a servery unit mounted on top of the toilet compartment. Other features include: video, colour television, and tinted side windows.

The first two Duple Dennis Falcon V coaches were launched to the trade press at Peterborough in early September 1982, then a week later they were handed over by the Transport Secretary David Howel to Robert Brook the Chief Executive of the NBC at Dennis' Guilford factory and entered service with Western National, the remaining eight were delivered by January 1983, and entered service with Western National (three) Yorkshire Traction (two), West Yorkshire Road Car Co (one), and National Travel West (two). Because the timescale that Dennis and Duple had was hopelessly impracticable resulted in no testing done before the completed coaches entered service, which resulted in a series of operational problems: body flexing caused the plug type entrance door to open while the coach was moving, which cut the power from the engine! the 4-speed automatic gearbox lacked a high top gear! and a few Falcons caught fire. The NBC decided not to order any more Dennis Falcon coaches and specified Duple and Plaxton bodied Leyland Tigers to be used on the Rapide network, then from 1984 MCW Metroliner and Plaxton Paramount 4000 double-deck coaches, but that is another story to be told. The Falcon coaches were withdrawn after less than three years and sold most had covered over 200,000 miles each! A number of operators re-powered the Falcon with a Cummins LT10 engine. The last sighting of a Dennis Falcon V coach was in 2005, it was owned by small coach company called Day Tripper who shared a yard with a coach company called Ribble Valley Coaches at Broughton near Preston. This Falcon was new to National Travel West as ANA 100Y. The owner of Day Tripper Barry Leyland told me who ever wants it can have it for scrap value and take it away.

Dennis was rather optimistic at the press launch of the Falcon V coaches at Peterborough in September 1982, and quoted that in future the Falcon V would be offered with a choice of a normal aspirated Perkins engine producing 206bhp, or a Mercedes OM 422 V8 engine producing 280bhp, two types of ZF 6-speed synchromesh gearboxes would be offered. Apart from the 10 Falcon V coaches built for the NBC, only one more was built (SDA404/120), which was used as a test-rig and was displayed by Dennis at the 1982 Motor Show held at the NEC near Birmingham. This chassis was later broken for spares. Dennis even said at the launch that they might build a rear-engined integral coach. In June 1983, Hestair took over Duple, and by the end of the year Dennis and Duple were working together on a in-house rear-engined intergral coach which became the Duple Integral 425.

David Hargreaves who was the Executive Chairman of Dennis knew that the NBC were still looking for a purpose built coach for their National Express network. The Integral 425 was developed with the NBC in mind: maximum passenger capacity, maximum luggage space, and maximum fuel economy. Duple had built a prototype integral Caribbean based on a Neoplan Cityliner underframe, this became the test bed for the Integral 425, and repowered with a Cummins LT10 engine mated to a five-speed fully-automatic ZF gearbox, the running units that the Falcon V should have used. Sadly, by the time the Integral 425 went into full production in 1987, the NBC were in the process of broken up and sold. The NBC took four Integral 425s in late 1985, followed by 13 in 1987, National Express took a solitary Integral 425, but when they drew the specification of the Expressliner in 1988, it was not based on a 425, but a Plaxton Paramount 3500 Volvo B10M, their 425 proved to be unreliable. The first 12 production 425s had the frames built by Duple, then transported down to Guilford for Dennis to attach the running units, and then driven back to Blackpool to be completed by Duple. This arrangement proved to be expensive and time consuming, so a few of Dennis' engineers were transferred to Duple, so the running units could be fitted by Duple.

Dennis developed the Falcon as a rear-engined single-deck bus for Leicester, with the first bodied by Duple entering service in early 1981. Two versions of the Falcon bus were offered H and HC. Then came the Falcon V rear-engined coach chassis, followed by the Falcon V rear-engined double-deck bus chassis. The Falcon was in production from 1981 to 1993, a total of 140 were built of all types, chassis numbers 101-2140.

This view shows a West Yorkshire Duple Super Goldliner IV (C47Ft) Dennis Falcon V (SDA404/112) DWW 925Y fleet number 2201 parked in Leeds Wellington Street coach station. Note the smart Alcoa alloy wheels which were fitted to help keep the weight down, the quoted unladen weight was 11.52 tons (11,712 kg).

Dennis did build other coach chassis, the Dorchester launched in 1982 only 67 built, but the Javelin launched in 1986 was a sales success and remained in production until 2011 with 2566 built. The rear-engine R-Series launched in 1999 to replace the successful Javelin only remained in production to 2006 with 98 built. What let Dennis down until the Javelin was launched, was no dealers, no back up, and poor spare parts availability, sadly the last two mentioned weaknesses, would always be the weakness of Dennis. The Javelin was a superb coach chassis, the only let down was the clutch on the models with manual gearboxes, and cooling problems if thrashed up and down the motorways on National Express services.

Conclusion: People seem to like to criticise both Dennis and Duple over the Falcon V fiasco, given that both parties only had four months to design a build, it was a great achievement, if the NBC had only gave Dennis and Duple four months to test a bodied prototype, then the Falcon V would be a different story, or would it? Duple replaced the Goldliner with the Caribbean in September 1982, the same month that the first two Falcons entered service with Western National. Dennis's experience of building the 10 Falcon V coaches was used when Dennis worked with Duple on the design of the Integral 425, and later the R-Series.

Postscript: During my PSV (PCV) driving career I have had the pleasure of driving many Dennis buses and coaches: Dart, Dominator, Dragon, Javelin, R-Series and Trident, apart from the Trident which were awful things to drive, the other models were a delight to drive. My favourite was the Javelin, a true driver's coach, I have drove the standard model with the 240bhp engine, and the range topping 300GX model, both manual and automatic.

Technical details Duple Super Goldliner Dennis Falcon V coach:-

Chassis Type: Dennis Falcon V 12-metre rear-engined coach chassis (£37,000)

Chassis Manufacturer: Hestair Dennis Ltd, Guildford,Surrey GU2 5XP England UK

Engine: Rear mounted vertical 10.5-litre turbocharged Perkins V8 TV8.640 diesel engine

Power output: 260bhp at 2,400rpm

Torque: 640lb.ft at 1800rpm

Gearbox: Voith D854 4-speed fully-automatic with torque convertor and an integral retarder. Gear selector buttons to the right of the driver below the side window, with a push button for each forward gear, neutral and reverse, fourth gear button would engage fully automatic operation of the gearbox. When in the automatic mode, the driver could hold each gear by pushing the button for that gear, and to return to fully automatic mode fourth gear button would be engaged, to prevent accidental engagement of reverse an additional button needed to be engaged at the same time.

Rear axle: Eaton 23000 series (10.8 ton), with a ratio of 5.43:1 giving a maximum top speed of 75mph

Front axle: GKN

Suspension: Full air suspension with self levelling valves, two air bellows and telescopic dampers mounted on a trailing 'A' frame on the front axle, and four air bellows and telescopic dampers mounted on a 'H' frame on the rear axle

Brakes: Full air split system featuring Eaton ''S'' cam brakes, spring actuated parking brake on rear axle and a Bendix Westinghouse AD2 air dryer

Steering: Integral power steering, 20in two spoke steering wheel, 5 3/4 turns lock to lock, turning circle 68ft

Cooling: Front mounted radatior with a 24in diameter thermostatically controlled hydraulic driven cooling fan, oil cooler incorporated in the cooling system for the gearbox

Fuel Tank: 80 gallon fuel tanks behind front axle, filler neck behind the offside front wheel arch panel

Wheels and Tyres: 10 stud Alcoa alloy wheels, tyre size radial, tubeless 275/80 × 22,5

Instrumentation: Two man tachograph, three air pressure gauges, fuel gauge and a panel of six warning lights: coolant, alternator, oil pressure, gearbox temperature, main beam and indicators, in addition a Radolarm warning light with test facility for the coolant

Performance: Maximum speed if holding each gear: 1st 32mph, 2nd 41mph, 3rd 57mph, and 4th 75mph. Speeds for gear changes in the automatic mode: 2nd 20mph, 3rd 35mph and 4th 50mph

Fuel consumption: Approximately 6mpg at 70mph

Bodywork: Duple Super Goldliner IV (£38,000)

Bodybuilder: Duple Coachbuilders Vicarage Lane, Blackpool FY4 4EN, England, UK

Body type: Super Goldliner IV

Height: Approximately 3.5-metre

Glazing: Tinted single glazing with full draw curtains

Seating and trim: 47 reclining seats, with armrests, trimmed in autumn tint brown striped moquette. Additional fold up seat for the Hostess or Steward recessed into the toilet compartment. Chapman Driver's seat. Full soft trim to sides and the roof, and a removable gangway carpet

Audio, Television and Video equipment: Radiomobile radio and cassette player with microphone, each seat has an individual earphone socket, two 14in JVC colour television monitors one above the driver's partition and the second in the centre near the servery unit, Panasonic video recorder/player

Heating: Smiths Webasto DBW300 system

Entrance Doors: Power operated plug type door, Continental centre door mounted on the offside

Toilet: Sunken centre mounted offside

Luggage: 6.7-metres of storage between the axles

Nothing like allowing a 3 year old to actually jump on his parent's bed. He was playing "squash the monsters" and having my D80 and SB-600 at hand, I saw a great opportunity to catch a great mid-air shot.

Strobist Info: Taken with an off camera SB-600 with the diffuser flap pulled out covering the flash and triggered using Nikon CLS

Nominated for "Photo of the Month" at "All Day I Dream About Photography"!!!

www.adidap.com/2008/11/04/adidap-flickr-round-august-2009/

Won the flickr photo pool at "All Day I Dream About Photography"!!!

www.adidap.com/2008/08/22/adidap-flickr-round-2008-08-10/

Thanks for the link DIYPhotography!

www.diyphotography.net/having-fun-at-the-pool-4

Thanks for the link Epic Edits!

blog.epicedits.com/2008/08/10/photodump-08-10-2008/

Thanks for the "Image of the Day" pick Parent Dish!

www.parentdish.com/2008/08/20/image-of-the-day-jump/

Flickr Explore Aug 7, 2008 #483

nominated in the abstract category at the 9th Black & White Sider Award

(London skyline from Ally Pally, with wobble)

I was nominated for one of those challenge things on Facebook: "Mono photo each day for 7 days. No people, no explanation, no obligation." This is my second day of doing it, but the first I've chosen to use the mono shot for my photo of the day. This was definitely my favourite shot from today though. I'm really enjoying being challenged to 'think in black and white,' and recommend it as a way to shake things up a bit, photographically speaking.

Felt slightly better again today - thankfully, after feeling so rubbish yesterday. Very tired though. Still, I managed to stay awake for a lovely dinner out with Tim after work, and then snuggled up on the sofa for a good catch-up of various comedy programmes we've recorded recently.

West German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 258. Photo: Paramount.

American actress Eleanor Parker (1922-2013) appeared in some 80 films and television series. She was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951) and Interrupted Melody (1955). Her role in Caged also won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. One of her most memorable roles was that of the Baroness in The Sound of Music (1965). Her biographer Doug McClelland called her ‘Woman of a Thousand Faces’, because of her versatility.

Eleanor Jean Parker was born in 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio. She was the daughter of Lola (Isett) and Lester Day Parker. Her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended public schools and graduated from Shaw High School. She appeared in a number of school plays. When she was 15 she started to attend the Rice Summer Theatre on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. After graduation, she moved to California and began appearing at the Pasadena Playhouse. There she was spotted by a Warners Bros talent scout, Irving Kumin. The studio signed her to a long-term contract in June 1941. She was cast that year in They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941), but her scenes were cut. Her actual film debut was as Nurse Ryan in the short Soldiers in White (B. Reeves Eason, 1942). She was given some decent roles in B films, Busses Roar (D. Ross Lederman, 1942) and The Mysterious Doctor (Benjamin Stoloff, 1943) opposites John Loder. She also had a small role in one of Warner Brothers' biggest productions for the 1943 season, the pro-Soviet Mission to Moscow (Michael Curtiz, 1943) as Emlen Davies, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R (Walter Huston). On the set, she met her first husband, Navy Lieutenant. Fred L. Losse, but the marriage turned out to be a brief wartime affair. Parker had impressed Warners enough to offer her a strong role in a prestige production, Between Two Worlds (Edward A. Blatt, 1944), playing the suicidal wife of Paul Henreid's character. She played support roles for Crime by Night (William Clemens, 1944) and The Last Ride (D. Ross Lederman, 1944). Then she got the starring role opposite Dennis Morgan in The Very Thought of You (Delmer Daves, 1944). She was considered enough of a ‘name’ to be given a cameo in Hollywood Canteen (Delmer Daves, 1944). Warners gave her the choice role of Mildred Rogers in a new version of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage (Edmund Goulding, 1946), but previews were not favourable and the film sat on the shelf for two years before being released. She had her big break when she was cast opposite John Garfield in Pride of the Marines (Delmer Daves, 1945). However, two films with Errol Flynn that followed, the romantic comedy Never Say Goodbye (James V. Kern, 1946) and the drama Escape Me Never (Peter Godfrey, 1947), were box office disappointments. Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing parts in films – in Stallion Road (James V. Kern, 1947), where she was replaced by Alexis Smith and Love and Learn (Frederick De Cordova, 1947). She made the comedy Voice of the Turtle (Irving Rapper, 1947) with Ronald Reagan, and the mystery The Woman in White (Peter Godfrey, 1948). She refused to appear in Somewhere in the City (Vincent Sherman, 1950) so Warners suspended her again; Virginia Mayo played the role. Parker then had two years off, during which time she married and had a baby. She turned down a role in The Hasty Heart (Vincent Sherman, 1949) which she wanted to do, but it would have meant going to England and she did not want to leave her baby alone during its first year.

Eleanor Parker returned in Chain Lightning (Stuart Heisler, 1950) with Humphrey Bogart. Parker heard about a women-in-prison film Warners were making, Caged (John Cromwell, 1950), and actively lobbied for the role. She got it, won the 1950 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. She also had a good role in the melodrama Three Secrets (Robert Wise, 1950). In February 1950, Parker left Warner Bros. after having been under contract there for eight years. Parker had understood that she would star in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros. apparently had no intention of making it. Because of this misunderstanding, her agents negotiated her release. Parker's career outside of Warners started badly with Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951) playing a fictionalised wife of Rudolph Valentino for producer Edward Small. She tried a comedy at 20th Century Fox with Fred MacMurray, A Millionaire for Christy (George Marshall, 1951). In 1951, Parker signed a contract with Paramount for one film a year, with an option for outside films. This arrangement began brilliantly with Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951) playing Mary McLeod, the woman who doesn't understand the position of her unstable detective husband (Kirk Douglas). Parker was nominated for the Oscar in 1951 for her performance. Parker followed Detective Story with her portrayal of an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman (Stewart Granger) in Scaramouche (George Sidney, 1952), a role originally intended for Ava Gardner. Wikipedia: “Parker later claimed that Granger was the only person she didn't get along with during her entire career. However, they had good chemistry and the film was a massive hit. “MGM cast her into Above and Beyond (Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, 1952), a biopic of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor), the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was a solid hit. While Parker was making a third film for MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (John Sturges, 1953), she signed a five-year contract with the studio. She was named as star of a Sidney Sheldon script, My Most Intimate Friend and of One More Time, from a script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin directed by George Cukor, but neither film was made. Back at Paramount, Parker starred with Charlton Heston as a 1900s mail-order bride in The Naked Jungle (Byron Haskin, 1954), produced by George Pal. Parker returned to MGM where she was reunited with Robert Taylor in an Egyptian adventure film, Valley of the Kings (Robert Pirosh, 1954), and a Western, Many Rivers to Cross (Roy Rowland, 1955). MGM gave her one of her best roles as opera singer Marjorie Lawrence struck down by polio in Interrupted Melody (Curtis Bernhardt, 1955). This was a big hit and earned Parker a third Oscar nomination; she later said it was her favourite film. Also in 1955, Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955), released through United Artists. She played Zosh, the supposedly wheelchair-bound wife of heroin-addicted, would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra). It was a major commercial and critical success. In 1956, she co-starred with Clark Gable in the Western comedy The King and Four Queens (Raoul Walsh, 1956), also for United Artists. It was then back at MGM for two dramas: Lizzie (Hugo Haas, 1957), in the title role, as a woman with a split personality; and The Seventh Sin (Ronald Neame, 1957), a remake of The Painted Veil in the role originated by Greta Garbo and, once again, intended for Ava Gardner. Both films flopped at the box office and, as a result, Parker's plans to produce her own film, L'Eternelle, about French resistance fighters, did not materialise.

Eleanor Parker supported Frank Sinatra in a popular comedy, A Hole in the Head (Frank Capra, 1959). She returned to MGM for Home from the Hill (Vincente Minnelli, 1960), co-starring with Robert Mitchum, then took over Lana Turner's role of Constance Rossi in Return to Peyton Place (José Ferrer, 1961), the sequel to the hit 1957 film. That was made by 20th Century Fox who also produced Madison Avenue (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1961) with Parker. In 1960, she made her TV debut, and in the following years, she worked increasingly in television, with the occasional film role such as Panic Button (George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo, 1964) with Maurice Chevalier and Jayne Mansfield. Parker's best-known screen role is Baroness Elsa Schraeder in the Oscar-winning musical The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965). The Baroness was famously and poignantly unsuccessful in keeping the affections of Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) after he falls in love with Maria (Julie Andrews). In 1966, Parker played an alcoholic widow in the crime drama Warning Shot (Buzz Kulik, 1967), a talent scout who discovers a Hollywood star in The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), and a rich alcoholic in An American Dream (Robert Gist, 1966). However, her film career seemed to go downhill. A Playboy Magazine reviewer derided the cast of The Oscar as "has-beens and never-will-be". From the late 1960s, she focused on television. In 1963, Parker appeared in the medical TV drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour in the episode Why Am I Grown So Cold?, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also appeared in episodes of Breaking Point (1964). And The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1968). In 1969–1970, Parker starred in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for a 1970 Golden Globe Award. Parker also appeared on stage in the role of Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve. In 1976, she played Maxine in a revival of The Night of the Iguana. Her last film role was in a Farrah Fawcett bomb, Sunburn (Richard C. Sarafian, 1979). Subsequently, she appeared very infrequently on TV, most recently in Dead on the Money (Mark Cullingham, 1991). Eleanor Parker was married four times. Her first husband was Fred Losee (1943-1944). Her second marriage to Bert E. Friedlob (1946-1953) produced three children Susan Eleanor Friedlob (1948), Sharon Anne Friedlob (1950), and Richard Parker Friedlob (1952). Her third marriage was to American portrait painter Paul Clemens, (1954-1965) and the couple had one child, actor Paul Clemens (1958). Her fourth marriage with Raymond N. Hirsch (1966-2001) ended when Hirsch died of oesophagal cancer. She was the grandmother of actor/director Chasen Parker. Eleanor Parker died in 2013 at a medical facility in Palm Springs, California of complications of pneumonia. She was 91. Parker was raised a Protestant and later converted to Judaism, telling the New York Daily News columnist Kay Gardella in August 1969, "I think we're all Jews at heart ... I wanted to convert for a long time."

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 256. Photo: Warner Bros.

American actress Eleanor Parker (1922-2013) appeared in some 80 films and television series. She was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951) and Interrupted Melody (1955). Her role in Caged also won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. One of her most memorable roles was that of the Baroness in The Sound of Music (1965). Her biographer Doug McClelland called her ‘Woman of a Thousand Faces’, because of her versatility.

Eleanor Jean Parker was born in 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio. She was the daughter of Lola (Isett) and Lester Day Parker. Her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended public schools and graduated from Shaw High School. She appeared in a number of school plays. When she was 15 she started to attend the Rice Summer Theatre on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. After graduation, she moved to California and began appearing at the Pasadena Playhouse. There she was spotted by a Warners Bros talent scout, Irving Kumin. The studio signed her to a long-term contract in June 1941. She was cast that year in They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941), but her scenes were cut. Her actual film debut was as Nurse Ryan in the short Soldiers in White (B. Reeves Eason, 1942). She was given some decent roles in B films, Busses Roar (D. Ross Lederman, 1942) and The Mysterious Doctor (Benjamin Stoloff, 1943) opposites John Loder. She also had a small role in one of Warner Brothers' biggest productions for the 1943 season, the pro-Soviet Mission to Moscow (Michael Curtiz, 1943) as Emlen Davies, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R (Walter Huston). On the set, she met her first husband, Navy Lieutenant. Fred L. Losse, but the marriage turned out to be a brief wartime affair. Parker had impressed Warners enough to offer her a strong role in a prestige production, Between Two Worlds (Edward A. Blatt, 1944), playing the suicidal wife of Paul Henreid's character. She played support roles for Crime by Night (William Clemens, 1944) and The Last Ride (D. Ross Lederman, 1944). Then she got the starring role opposite Dennis Morgan in The Very Thought of You (Delmer Daves, 1944). She was considered enough of a ‘name’ to be given a cameo in Hollywood Canteen (Delmer Daves, 1944). Warners gave her the choice role of Mildred Rogers in a new version of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage (Edmund Goulding, 1946), but previews were not favourable and the film sat on the shelf for two years before being released. She had her big break when she was cast opposite John Garfield in Pride of the Marines (Delmer Daves, 1945). However, two films with Errol Flynn that followed, the romantic comedy Never Say Goodbye (James V. Kern, 1946) and the drama Escape Me Never (Peter Godfrey, 1947), were box office disappointments. Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing parts in films – in Stallion Road (James V. Kern, 1947), where she was replaced by Alexis Smith and Love and Learn (Frederick De Cordova, 1947). She made the comedy Voice of the Turtle (Irving Rapper, 1947) with Ronald Reagan, and the mystery The Woman in White (Peter Godfrey, 1948). She refused to appear in Somewhere in the City (Vincent Sherman, 1950) so Warners suspended her again; Virginia Mayo played the role. Parker then had two years off, during which time she married and had a baby. She turned down a role in The Hasty Heart (Vincent Sherman, 1949) which she wanted to do, but it would have meant going to England and she did not want to leave her baby alone during its first year.

Eleanor Parker returned in Chain Lightning (Stuart Heisler, 1950) with Humphrey Bogart. Parker heard about a women-in-prison film Warners were making, Caged (John Cromwell, 1950), and actively lobbied for the role. She got it, won the 1950 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. She also had a good role in the melodrama Three Secrets (Robert Wise, 1950). In February 1950, Parker left Warner Bros. after having been under contract there for eight years. Parker had understood that she would star in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros. apparently had no intention of making it. Because of this misunderstanding, her agents negotiated her release. Parker's career outside of Warners started badly with Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951) playing a fictionalised wife of Rudolph Valentino for producer Edward Small. She tried a comedy at 20th Century Fox with Fred MacMurray, A Millionaire for Christy (George Marshall, 1951). In 1951, Parker signed a contract with Paramount for one film a year, with an option for outside films. This arrangement began brilliantly with Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951) playing Mary McLeod, the woman who doesn't understand the position of her unstable detective husband (Kirk Douglas). Parker was nominated for the Oscar in 1951 for her performance. Parker followed Detective Story with her portrayal of an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman (Stewart Granger) in Scaramouche (George Sidney, 1952), a role originally intended for Ava Gardner. Wikipedia: “Parker later claimed that Granger was the only person she didn't get along with during her entire career. However, they had good chemistry and the film was a massive hit. “MGM cast her into Above and Beyond (Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, 1952), a biopic of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor), the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was a solid hit. While Parker was making a third film for MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (John Sturges, 1953), she signed a five-year contract with the studio. She was named as star of a Sidney Sheldon script, My Most Intimate Friend and of One More Time, from a script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin directed by George Cukor, but neither film was made. Back at Paramount, Parker starred with Charlton Heston as a 1900s mail-order bride in The Naked Jungle (Byron Haskin, 1954), produced by George Pal. Parker returned to MGM where she was reunited with Robert Taylor in an Egyptian adventure film, Valley of the Kings (Robert Pirosh, 1954), and a Western, Many Rivers to Cross (Roy Rowland, 1955). MGM gave her one of her best roles as opera singer Marjorie Lawrence struck down by polio in Interrupted Melody (Curtis Bernhardt, 1955). This was a big hit and earned Parker a third Oscar nomination; she later said it was her favourite film. Also in 1955, Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955), released through United Artists. She played Zosh, the supposedly wheelchair-bound wife of heroin-addicted, would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra). It was a major commercial and critical success. In 1956, she co-starred with Clark Gable in the Western comedy The King and Four Queens (Raoul Walsh, 1956), also for United Artists. It was then back at MGM for two dramas: Lizzie (Hugo Haas, 1957), in the title role, as a woman with a split personality; and The Seventh Sin (Ronald Neame, 1957), a remake of The Painted Veil in the role originated by Greta Garbo and, once again, intended for Ava Gardner. Both films flopped at the box office and, as a result, Parker's plans to produce her own film, L'Eternelle, about French resistance fighters, did not materialise.

Eleanor Parker supported Frank Sinatra in a popular comedy, A Hole in the Head (Frank Capra, 1959). She returned to MGM for Home from the Hill (Vincente Minnelli, 1960), co-starring with Robert Mitchum, then took over Lana Turner's role of Constance Rossi in Return to Peyton Place (José Ferrer, 1961), the sequel to the hit 1957 film. That was made by 20th Century Fox who also produced Madison Avenue (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1961) with Parker. In 1960, she made her TV debut, and in the following years, she worked increasingly in television, with the occasional film role such as Panic Button (George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo, 1964) with Maurice Chevalier and Jayne Mansfield. Parker's best-known screen role is Baroness Elsa Schraeder in the Oscar-winning musical The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965). The Baroness was famously and poignantly unsuccessful in keeping the affections of Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) after he falls in love with Maria (Julie Andrews). In 1966, Parker played an alcoholic widow in the crime drama Warning Shot (Buzz Kulik, 1967), a talent scout who discovers a Hollywood star in The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), and a rich alcoholic in An American Dream (Robert Gist, 1966). However, her film career seemed to go downhill. A Playboy Magazine reviewer derided the cast of The Oscar as "has-beens and never-will-be". From the late 1960s, she focused on television. In 1963, Parker appeared in the medical TV drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour in the episode Why Am I Grown So Cold?, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also appeared in episodes of Breaking Point (1964). And The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1968). In 1969–1970, Parker starred in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for a 1970 Golden Globe Award. Parker also appeared on stage in the role of Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve. In 1976, she played Maxine in a revival of The Night of the Iguana. Her last film role was in a Farrah Fawcett bomb, Sunburn (Richard C. Sarafian, 1979). Subsequently, she appeared very infrequently on TV, most recently in Dead on the Money (Mark Cullingham, 1991). Eleanor Parker was married four times. Her first husband was Fred Losee (1943-1944). Her second marriage to Bert E. Friedlob (1946-1953) produced three children Susan Eleanor Friedlob (1948), Sharon Anne Friedlob (1950), and Richard Parker Friedlob (1952). Her third marriage was to American portrait painter Paul Clemens, (1954-1965) and the couple had one child, actor Paul Clemens (1958). Her fourth marriage with Raymond N. Hirsch (1966-2001) ended when Hirsch died of oesophagal cancer. She was the grandmother of actor/director Chasen Parker. Eleanor Parker died in 2013 at a medical facility in Palm Springs, California of complications of pneumonia. She was 91. Parker was raised a Protestant and later converted to Judaism, telling the New York Daily News columnist Kay Gardella in August 1969, "I think we're all Jews at heart ... I wanted to convert for a long time."

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Belgian postcard, no. 950. Photo: Warner Bros.

American actress Eleanor Parker (1922-2013) appeared in some 80 films and television series. She was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951) and Interrupted Melody (1955). Her role in Caged also won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. One of her most memorable roles was that of the Baroness in The Sound of Music (1965). Her biographer Doug McClelland called her ‘Woman of a Thousand Faces’, because of her versatility.

Eleanor Jean Parker was born in 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio. She was the daughter of Lola (Isett) and Lester Day Parker. Her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended public schools and graduated from Shaw High School. She appeared in a number of school plays. When she was 15 she started to attend the Rice Summer Theatre on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. After graduation, she moved to California and began appearing at the Pasadena Playhouse. There she was spotted by a Warners Bros talent scout, Irving Kumin. The studio signed her to a long-term contract in June 1941. She was cast that year in They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941), but her scenes were cut. Her actual film debut was as Nurse Ryan in the short Soldiers in White (B. Reeves Eason, 1942). She was given some decent roles in B films, Busses Roar (D. Ross Lederman, 1942) and The Mysterious Doctor (Benjamin Stoloff, 1943) opposites John Loder. She also had a small role in one of Warner Brothers' biggest productions for the 1943 season, the pro-Soviet Mission to Moscow (Michael Curtiz, 1943) as Emlen Davies, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R (Walter Huston). On the set, she met her first husband, Navy Lieutenant. Fred L. Losse, but the marriage turned out to be a brief wartime affair. Parker had impressed Warners enough to offer her a strong role in a prestige production, Between Two Worlds (Edward A. Blatt, 1944), playing the suicidal wife of Paul Henreid's character. She played support roles for Crime by Night (William Clemens, 1944) and The Last Ride (D. Ross Lederman, 1944). Then she got the starring role opposite Dennis Morgan in The Very Thought of You (Delmer Daves, 1944). She was considered enough of a ‘name’ to be given a cameo in Hollywood Canteen (Delmer Daves, 1944). Warners gave her the choice role of Mildred Rogers in a new version of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage (Edmund Goulding, 1946), but previews were not favourable and the film sat on the shelf for two years before being released. She had her big break when she was cast opposite John Garfield in Pride of the Marines (Delmer Daves, 1945). However, two films with Errol Flynn that followed, the romantic comedy Never Say Goodbye (James V. Kern, 1946) and the drama Escape Me Never (Peter Godfrey, 1947), were box office disappointments. Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing parts in films – in Stallion Road (James V. Kern, 1947), where she was replaced by Alexis Smith and Love and Learn (Frederick De Cordova, 1947). She made the comedy Voice of the Turtle (Irving Rapper, 1947) with Ronald Reagan, and the mystery The Woman in White (Peter Godfrey, 1948). She refused to appear in Somewhere in the City (Vincent Sherman, 1950) so Warners suspended her again; Virginia Mayo played the role. Parker then had two years off, during which time she married and had a baby. She turned down a role in The Hasty Heart (Vincent Sherman, 1949) which she wanted to do, but it would have meant going to England and she did not want to leave her baby alone during its first year.

Eleanor Parker returned in Chain Lightning (Stuart Heisler, 1950) with Humphrey Bogart. Parker heard about a women-in-prison film Warners were making, Caged (John Cromwell, 1950), and actively lobbied for the role. She got it, won the 1950 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. She also had a good role in the melodrama Three Secrets (Robert Wise, 1950). In February 1950, Parker left Warner Bros. after having been under contract there for eight years. Parker had understood that she would star in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros. apparently had no intention of making it. Because of this misunderstanding, her agents negotiated her release. Parker's career outside of Warners started badly with Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951) playing a fictionalised wife of Rudolph Valentino for producer Edward Small. She tried a comedy at 20th Century Fox with Fred MacMurray, A Millionaire for Christy (George Marshall, 1951). In 1951, Parker signed a contract with Paramount for one film a year, with an option for outside films. This arrangement began brilliantly with Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951) playing Mary McLeod, the woman who doesn't understand the position of her unstable detective husband (Kirk Douglas). Parker was nominated for the Oscar in 1951 for her performance. Parker followed Detective Story with her portrayal of an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman (Stewart Granger) in Scaramouche (George Sidney, 1952), a role originally intended for Ava Gardner. Wikipedia: “Parker later claimed that Granger was the only person she didn't get along with during her entire career. However, they had good chemistry and the film was a massive hit. “MGM cast her into Above and Beyond (Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, 1952), a biopic of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor), the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was a solid hit. While Parker was making a third film for MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (John Sturges, 1953), she signed a five-year contract with the studio. She was named as star of a Sidney Sheldon script, My Most Intimate Friend and of One More Time, from a script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin directed by George Cukor, but neither film was made. Back at Paramount, Parker starred with Charlton Heston as a 1900s mail-order bride in The Naked Jungle (Byron Haskin, 1954), produced by George Pal. Parker returned to MGM where she was reunited with Robert Taylor in an Egyptian adventure film, Valley of the Kings (Robert Pirosh, 1954), and a Western, Many Rivers to Cross (Roy Rowland, 1955). MGM gave her one of her best roles as opera singer Marjorie Lawrence struck down by polio in Interrupted Melody (Curtis Bernhardt, 1955). This was a big hit and earned Parker a third Oscar nomination; she later said it was her favourite film. Also in 1955, Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955), released through United Artists. She played Zosh, the supposedly wheelchair-bound wife of heroin-addicted, would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra). It was a major commercial and critical success. In 1956, she co-starred with Clark Gable in the Western comedy The King and Four Queens (Raoul Walsh, 1956), also for United Artists. It was then back at MGM for two dramas: Lizzie (Hugo Haas, 1957), in the title role, as a woman with a split personality; and The Seventh Sin (Ronald Neame, 1957), a remake of The Painted Veil in the role originated by Greta Garbo and, once again, intended for Ava Gardner. Both films flopped at the box office and, as a result, Parker's plans to produce her own film, L'Eternelle, about French resistance fighters, did not materialise.

Eleanor Parker supported Frank Sinatra in a popular comedy, A Hole in the Head (Frank Capra, 1959). She returned to MGM for Home from the Hill (Vincente Minnelli, 1960), co-starring with Robert Mitchum, then took over Lana Turner's role of Constance Rossi in Return to Peyton Place (José Ferrer, 1961), the sequel to the hit 1957 film. That was made by 20th Century Fox who also produced Madison Avenue (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1961) with Parker. In 1960, she made her TV debut, and in the following years, she worked increasingly in television, with the occasional film role such as Panic Button (George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo, 1964) with Maurice Chevalier and Jayne Mansfield. Parker's best-known screen role is Baroness Elsa Schraeder in the Oscar-winning musical The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965). The Baroness was famously and poignantly unsuccessful in keeping the affections of Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) after he falls in love with Maria (Julie Andrews). In 1966, Parker played an alcoholic widow in the crime drama Warning Shot (Buzz Kulik, 1967), a talent scout who discovers a Hollywood star in The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), and a rich alcoholic in An American Dream (Robert Gist, 1966). However, her film career seemed to go downhill. A Playboy Magazine reviewer derided the cast of The Oscar as "has-beens and never-will-be". From the late 1960s, she focused on television. In 1963, Parker appeared in the medical TV drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour in the episode Why Am I Grown So Cold?, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also appeared in episodes of Breaking Point (1964). And The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1968). In 1969–1970, Parker starred in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for a 1970 Golden Globe Award. Parker also appeared on stage in the role of Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve. In 1976, she played Maxine in a revival of The Night of the Iguana. Her last film role was in a Farrah Fawcett bomb, Sunburn (Richard C. Sarafian, 1979). Subsequently, she appeared very infrequently on TV, most recently in Dead on the Money (Mark Cullingham, 1991). Eleanor Parker was married four times. Her first husband was Fred Losee (1943-1944). Her second marriage to Bert E. Friedlob (1946-1953) produced three children Susan Eleanor Friedlob (1948), Sharon Anne Friedlob (1950), and Richard Parker Friedlob (1952). Her third marriage was to American portrait painter Paul Clemens, (1954-1965) and the couple had one child, actor Paul Clemens (1958). Her fourth marriage with Raymond N. Hirsch (1966-2001) ended when Hirsch died of oesophagal cancer. She was the grandmother of actor/director Chasen Parker. Eleanor Parker died in 2013 at a medical facility in Palm Springs, California of complications of pneumonia. She was 91. Parker was raised a Protestant and later converted to Judaism, telling the New York Daily News columnist Kay Gardella in August 1969, "I think we're all Jews at heart ... I wanted to convert for a long time."

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Last year I was nominated for the bloggies and I lost to my worst enemy, the FlickrBlog. So, to the extent that people out there like to see pictures of models, and to the extent they like the occasional model that is of the Asian persuasion, then here you go!

I would appreciate your vote for the 2008 Bloggies! I hope you vote for www.stuckincustoms.com in the "best photography of a weblog" category! :)

Tommy is nominated for Ballerup Municipality's Culture Prize, for something as unusual as spreading joy and kindness, both as an avid hiker in the municipality's green area, and as an avid participant in various local Facebook groups. I was present when two from the judge group visited him, Charlotte from the municipal council and Morten from Danske Bank, who is the sponsor of the award.

Lilletoften, Skovlunde.

Nominate subspecies.

My Garden, Gilwern, Abergavenny, Wales, UK

( High resolution image - if you want to read the banners please zoom in once or twice )

On Saturday 5 February 2022, I went to meet and photograph some of the activists staging their weekly protest at Piccadilly Circus against the continued detention and extradition proceedings against whistleblower and dissident journalist Julian Assange.

Nearly two weeks earlier on Monday 24 January, the High Court had made its decision regarding whether Julian Assange could request an appeal hearing on his extradition case at Britain's Supreme Court. As Julian Assange's fiancée, Stella Morris, left the building she smiled briefly, an immediate indication that there was at least some good news. She then gave a brief speech to a crowd of supporters and the press -

'Make no mistake,' she declared, 'We won today in court,' but then added, 'but let's not forget that every time we win, as long as this case is not dropped, as long as Julian is not freed, Julian continues to suffer.'

While Assange's defence team were granted the right to apply for a hearing at the Supreme Court, it will be up to Britain's highest court to decide whether to agree to consider his case. That decision on a possible Supreme Court hearing is expected sometime in the next two to three months.

Unfortunately, the remit of the appeal has been restricted to examining the United States' claimed legal promises on how Assange will be treated, rather than to the wider issues of freedom of speech, the CIA plot to assassinate him, the extent to which the evidence against him has obviously been fabricated or as to whether his treatment in Belmarsh Prison has amounted to torture.

On the last point, it is interesting to note that UN special rapporteur for torture, Nils Melzer, has already declared that the conditions Assange has been forced to endure at Belmarsh prison, including prolonged periods of solitary, constitute both arbitrary detention and torture.

www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID...

If convicted in the United States on the charges of espionage for exposing US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as other wrongdoing by the United States and other governments, he faces up to 175 years in prison.

A week after Britain's High Court decision Assange was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight for democracy by Martin Sonnenborn, a German MEP.

morningstaronline.co.uk/article/julian-assange-nominated-...

If you are interested in the Assange case more information can be found at the following links -

assangedefense.org

www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/usuk-julian-assanges-po...

rsf.org/en/news/rsf-condemns-uk-high-courts-decision-allo...

Nominated for best train

By Andrew Mollmann

Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1939, for Orologi e Cinturini Delgia. Photo: Studio Chaplin.

American actress Paulette Goddard (1905-1990) started her career as a fashion model and as a Ziegfeld Girl in several Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she became a major star of Paramount Pictures. She was Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator. Goddard was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her husbands included Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich Maria Remarque.

Paulette Goddard was born Pauline Marion Levy in Whitestone Landing, Long Island, New York. Sources variously cite her year of birth as 1911 and 1914, and the place as Whitestone Landing, New York, USA. However, municipal employees in Ronco, Switzerland, where she died, gave her birth year of record as 1905. Goddard was the daughter of Joseph Russell Levy, the son of a prosperous Jewish cigar manufacturer from Salt Lake City, and Alta Mae Goddard, who was of Episcopalian English heritage. They married in 1908 and separated while their daughter was very young, although the divorce did not become final until 1926. According to Goddard, her father left them, but according to J. R. Levy, Alta absconded with the child. Goddard was raised by her mother, and did not meet her father again until the late 1930s, after she had become famous. To avoid a custody battle, she and her mother moved often during her childhood, even relocating to Canada at one point. Goddard began modeling at an early age to support her mother and herself, working for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hattie Carnegie, and others. An important figure in her childhood was her great uncle, Charles Goddard, the owner of the American Druggists Syndicate. He played a central role in Goddard's career, introducing her to Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. She made her stage debut as a dancer in Ziegfeld's summer revue, 'No Foolin' (1926), which was also the first time that she used the stage name Paulette Goddard. Ziegfeld hired her for another musical, 'Rio Rita', which opened in February 1927, but she left the show after only three weeks to appear in the play 'The Unconquerable Male', produced by Archie Selwyn. It was, however, a flop and closed after only three days following its premiere in Atlantic City. Soon after the play closed, Goddard was introduced to the much older lumber tycoon Edgar James, president of the Southern Lumber Company, by Charles Goddard. She married him in June 1927 in Rye, New York, but the marriage was short. Goddard was granted a divorce in Reno, Nevada, in 1929, receiving a divorce settlement of $375,000. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. "

Paulette Goddard first visited Hollywood in 1929, when she appeared as an uncredited extra in two films, the Laurel and Hardy short film Berth Marks (Lewis R. Foster, 1929), and George Fitzmaurice's drama The Locked Door (1929). Following her divorce, she briefly visited Europe before returning to Hollywood in late 1930 with her mother. Her second attempt at acting was no more successful than the first, as she landed work only as an extra. In 1930, she signed her first film contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a Goldwyn Girl in Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930) with Eddie Cantor. She also appeared in City Streets (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) with Gary Cooper, Ladies of the Big House (Marion Gering, 1931) starring Sylvia Sidney, and The Girl Habit (Edward F. Cline, 1931) for Paramount, and The Mouthpiece (James Flood, Elliott Nugent, 1932) for Warners. Goldwyn and she did not get along, and she began working for Hal Roach Studios, appearing in a string of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years, including Young Ironsides (James Parrott, 1932) with Charley Chase, and Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) with Laurel and Hardy. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond 'Goldwyn Girl' in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932). Goldwyn also used Goddard in The Bowery (Raoul Walsh, 1933) with Wallace Beery, Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933), and Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, 1934) with Eddie Cantor. The year she signed with Goldwyn, Goddard began dating Charlie Chaplin, a relationship that received substantial attention from the press. They were reportedly married in secret in Canton, China, in June 1936. It marked a turning point in Goddard's career when Chaplin cast her as his leading lady in his box office hit, Modern Times (1936). Her role as 'The Gamin', an orphan girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes The Tramp's companion, was her first credited film appearance and garnered her mainly positive reviews, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times describing her as "the fitting recipient of the great Charlot's championship". Following the success of Modern Times, Chaplin planned other projects with Goddard in mind as a co-star, but he worked slowly, and Goddard worried that the public might forget about her if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick and appeared with Janet Gaynor in the comedy The Young in Heart (Richard Wallace, 1938) before Selznick lent her to MGM to appear in two films. The first of these, Dramatic School (Robert B. Sinclair, 1938), co-starred Luise Rainer, but the film received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. Her next film, The Women (George Cukor, 1939), was a success. With an all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, the film's supporting role of Miriam Aarons was played by Goddard. Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. fun."

David O' Selznick was pleased with Paulette Goddard's performances, particularly her work in The Young in Heart, and considered her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Initial screen tests convinced Selznick and director George Cukor that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, and she was the first actress given a Technicolor screen test. After he was introduced to Vivien Leigh, he wrote to his wife that Leigh was a "dark horse" and that his choice had "narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett, and Vivien Leigh". After a series of tests with Leigh that pleased both Selznick and Cukor, Selznick cancelled the further tests that had been scheduled for Goddard, and the part was given to Leigh. Goddard's next film, The Cat and the Canary (Elliott Nugent, 1939) with Bob Hope, was a turning point in the careers of both actors. The success of the film established her as a genuine star. Her performance won her a ten-year contract with Paramount Studios, which was one of the premier studios of the day. They promptly were re-teamed in The Ghost Breakers (George Marshall, 1940), again a huge hit. Goddard starred with Chaplin again in his film The Great Dictator (1940). In 1942, Goddard was granted a Mexican divorce from Chaplin. The couple split amicably, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. At Paramount, Goddard was used by Cecil B. De Mille in the action epic North West Mounted Police (1940), playing the second female lead. She was Fred Astaire's leading lady in the acclaimed musical Second Chorus/Swing it (H.C. Potter, 1940), where she met actor Burgess Meredith, her third husband. Goddard made Pot o' Gold (George Marshall, 1941), a comedy with James Stewart, then supported Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), from a script by Wilder and Brackett, directed by Mitchell Leisen. Goddard was teamed with Hope for a third time in Nothing But the Truth (Elliott Nugent, 1942), then made The Lady Has Plans (Sidney Lanfield, 1942), a comedy with Ray Milland. She co-starred with Milland and John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942), playing the lead, a Scarlett O'Hara type character. The film was a huge hit. Goddard did The Forest Rangers (George Marshall, 1942) with Fred MacMurray. One of her better-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm (George Marshall, 1943), in which she sang "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake.

Paulette Goddard received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (Mark Sandrich, 1943) opposite Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake. She didn't win, but it solidified her as a top draw. Goddard was teamed with Fred MacMurray in the delightful comedy Standing Room Only (Sidney Lanfield, 1944) and Sonny Tufts in I Love a Soldier (Mark Sandrich, 1944). In May 1944, she married Burgess Meredith at David O. Selznick's home in Beverly Hills. Goddard's most successful film was Kitty (Mitchell Leisen, 1945), in which she played the title role. Denny Jackson/Robert Sieger at IMDb: "The film was a hit with moviegoers, as she played an ordinary English woman transformed into a duchess. The film was filled with plenty of comedy, dramatic and romantic scenes that appealed to virtually everyone." In The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), Goddard starred with husband Burgess Meredith under the direction of Jean Renoir. It was made for United Artists. At Paramount she did Suddenly It's Spring (Mitchell Leisen, 1947) with Fred MacMurray, and De Mille's 18th century romantic drama Unconquered (Cecil B. DeMille, 1947), with Cary Grant. During the Hollywood Blacklist, when she and blacklisted husband Meredith were mobbed by a baying crowd screaming "Communists!" on their way to a premiere, Goddard is said to have turned to her husband and said, "Shall I roll down the window and hit them with my diamonds, Bugsy?" In 1947, she made An Ideal Husband in Britain for Alexander Korda, and was accompanied on a publicity trip to Brussels by Clarissa Spencer-Churchill, niece of Sir Winston Churchill and future wife of future Prime Minister Anthony Eden. She divorced Meredith in June 1949, and also left Paramount. In 1949, she formed Monterey Pictures with John Steinbeck. Goddard starred in Anna Lucasta (Irving Rapper, 1949), then went to Mexico for The Torch (Emilio Fernández, 1950). In England, she was in Babes in Bagdad (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1952), then she went to Hollywood for Vice Squad (Arnold Laven, 1953) with Edward G. Robinson, and Charge of the Lancers (William Castle, 1954) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Her last starring role was in the English production A Stranger Came Home/The Unholy Four (Terence Fisher, 1954).

Paulette Goddard began appearing in summer stock and on television, guest starring on episodes of Sherlock Holmes, an adaptation of The Women, this time playing the role of Sylvia Fowler, The Errol Flynn Theatre, The Joseph Cotten Show, and The Ford Television Theatre. She was in an episode of Adventures in Paradise and a TV version of The Phantom. After her marriage to Erich Maria Remarque in 1958, Goddard largely retired from acting and moved to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland. In 1964, she attempted a comeback in films with a supporting role in the Italian film Gli indifferenti/Time of Indifference (Francesco Maselli, 1964), starring Claudia Cardinale and Rod Steiger, which was her last feature film. After Remarque's death in 1970, she made one last attempt at acting, when she accepted a small role in an episode of the TV series The Snoop Sisters, The Female Instinct (Leonards Stern, 1972) with Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick. Upon Remarque's death, Goddard inherited much of his money and several important properties across Europe, including a wealth of contemporary art, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword among the old Hollywood élite. During the 1980s, she became a fairly well known (and highly visible) socialite in New York City, appearing covered with jewels at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men, including Andy Warhol, with whom she sustained a friendship for many years until his death in 1987. Paulette Goddard underwent invasive treatment for breast cancer in 1975, successfully by all accounts. In 1990, she died at her home in Switzerland from heart failure while under respiratory support due to emphysema, She is buried in Ronco Village Cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother. Goddard had no children. She became a stepmother to Charles Chaplin's two sons, Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin, while she and Charlie were married. In his memoirs, 'My Father Charlie Chaplin' (1960), Charles Jr. describes her as a lovely, caring and intelligent woman throughout the book. In October 1944, she suffered the miscarriage of a son with Burgess Meredith. Goddard, whose own formal education did not go beyond high school, bequeathed US$20 million to New York University (NYU) in New York City.

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Denny Jackson / Robert Sieger (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Jeff Belanger is one of the most visible and prolific researchers of folklore and legends today. A natural storyteller, he’s the award-winning, Emmy-nominated host, writer, and producer of the New England Legends series on PBS and Amazon Prime, and is the author of over a dozen books (published in six languages). He also hosts the New England Legends weekly podcast, which has garnered over 4 million downloads since it was launched.

Always one for chasing adventures, Jeff has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, he’s explored the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, he’s searched the catacombs of Paris, France (where he encountered his first ghost), he faced his life-long struggle with basophobia on his birthday by skydiving, and he’s been ghost hunting all over the world from a former TB asylum in Kentucky, to medieval castles in Europe, to an abandoned prison in Australia.

Jeff got his start as a journalist in 1997, where he learned how to connect with people from all walks of life. For his work, he’s interviewed thousands of people about their encounters with the profound.

His books include the best sellers: The World’s Most Haunted Places, Weird Massachusetts, Our Haunted Lives, The Call of Kilimanjaro, and Who’s Haunting the White House?. He founded Ghostvillage.com in 1999—one of the Web’s most popular paranormal destinations—and he’s a noted speaker and media personality. He’s spoken at MENSA’s national conference, has given a prestigious TEDx talk in New York City, and provides dozens of live lectures and programs to audiences each year.

Belanger has written for newspapers like The Boston Globe and USA Today, and has served as the writer and researcher on numerous television series including every single episode of Ghost Adventures (25 seasons and counting), Paranormal Challenge, and Aftershocks on the Travel Channel, and Amish Haunting on Destination America. He’s been a guest on hundreds of radio and television networks and programs including: The History Channel, The Travel Channel, Biography Channel, Reelz, PBS, NECN, Living TV (UK), Sunrise 7 (Australia), Bell (Canada), The Maury Show, The CBS News Early Show, CBS Sunday Morning, FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates, National Public Radio, The BBC, Darkness Radio, Australian Radio Network, and Coast to Coast AM.

I was nominated by Di and Betty for the black and white doll challenge. Thank you, both. The challenge is to post a black and white photo of a doll and nominate somebody new each day.

I nominate The Stars in the Sky1. I would love to see some of your Disney dolls in black and white.

Ricky was still in his Halloween boy scout shirt so I just turned it inside out to get the scarf in the front like a bandana.

This is my first one, but may be my only one due to Christmas parties, shopping, decorating, crafts....just like most of you. I'm hosting Christmas here so the house needs to be tidy all over!

I have 3 Christmas dioramas that I would LOVE to do before the 25th. I hope they can happen, but I have my doubts.

American postcard by Movie Candid Color Card, Beverly Hills, Calif., no. A18. Photo: Jack Albin (Kodachrome). Publicity still for Bride of Vengeance/A Mask for Lucretia (Mitchell Leisen, 1949). Caption: Paulette Goddard, former Ziegfeld girl, later cavorted for Samuel Goldwyn, and won stardom opposite Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times. Paulette really clicked at Paramount, where she teamed with Bob Hope, and followed with several starring roles for C.B. De Mille. Once married to Charlie Chaplin, she is now the wife of actor Burgess Meredith.

American actress Paulette Goddard (1905-1990) started her career as a fashion model and as a Ziegfeld Girl in several Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she became a major star of Paramount Pictures. She was Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator. Goddard was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her husbands included Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich Maria Remarque.

Paulette Goddard was born Pauline Marion Levy in Whitestone Landing, Long Island, New York. Sources variously cite her year of birth as 1911 and 1914, and the place as Whitestone Landing, New York, USA. However, municipal employees in Ronco, Switzerland, where she died, gave her birth year of record as 1905. Goddard was the daughter of Joseph Russell Levy, the son of a prosperous Jewish cigar manufacturer from Salt Lake City, and Alta Mae Goddard, who was of Episcopalian English heritage. They married in 1908 and separated while their daughter was very young, although the divorce did not become final until 1926. According to Goddard, her father left them, but according to J. R. Levy, Alta absconded with the child. Goddard was raised by her mother and did not meet her father again until the late 1930s after she had become famous. To avoid a custody battle, she and her mother moved often during her childhood, even relocating to Canada at one point. Goddard began modeling at an early age to support her mother and herself, working for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hattie Carnegie, and others. An important figure in her childhood was her great uncle, Charles Goddard, the owner of the American Druggists Syndicate. He played a central role in Goddard's career, introducing her to Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. She made her stage debut as a dancer in Ziegfeld's summer revue, 'No Foolin' (1926), which was also the first time that she used the stage name Paulette Goddard. Ziegfeld hired her for another musical, 'Rio Rita', which opened in February 1927, but she left the show after only three weeks to appear in the play 'The Unconquerable Male', produced by Archie Selwyn. It was, however, a flop and closed after only three days following its premiere in Atlantic City. Soon after the play closed, Goddard was introduced to the much older lumber tycoon Edgar James, president of the Southern Lumber Company, by Charles Goddard. She married him in June 1927 in Rye, New York, but the marriage was short. Goddard was granted a divorce in Reno, Nevada, in 1929, receiving a divorce settlement of $375,000. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. "

Paulette Goddard first visited Hollywood in 1929, when she appeared as an uncredited extra in two films, the Laurel and Hardy short film Berth Marks (Lewis R. Foster, 1929), and George Fitzmaurice's drama The Locked Door (1929). Following her divorce, she briefly visited Europe before returning to Hollywood in late 1930 with her mother. Her second attempt at acting was no more successful than the first, as she landed work only as an extra. In 1930, she signed her first film contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a Goldwyn Girl in Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930) with Eddie Cantor. She also appeared in City Streets (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) with Gary Cooper, Ladies of the Big House (Marion Gering, 1931) starring Sylvia Sidney, and The Girl Habit (Edward F. Cline, 1931) for Paramount, and The Mouthpiece (James Flood, Elliott Nugent, 1932) for Warners. Goldwyn and she did not get along, and she began working for Hal Roach Studios, appearing in a string of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years, including Young Ironsides (James Parrott, 1932) with Charley Chase, and Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) with Laurel and Hardy. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond 'Goldwyn Girl' in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932). Goldwyn also used Goddard in The Bowery (Raoul Walsh, 1933) with Wallace Beery, Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933), and Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, 1934) with Eddie Cantor. The year she signed with Goldwyn, Goddard began dating Charlie Chaplin, a relationship that received substantial attention from the press. They were reportedly married in secret in Canton, China, in June 1936. It marked a turning point in Goddard's career when Chaplin cast her as his leading lady in his box office hit, Modern Times (1936). Her role as 'The Gamin', an orphan girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes The Tramp's companion, was her first credited film appearance and garnered her mainly positive reviews, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times describing her as "the fitting recipient of the great Charlot's championship". Following the success of Modern Times, Chaplin planned other projects with Goddard in mind as a co-star, but he worked slowly, and Goddard worried that the public might forget about her if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick and appeared with Janet Gaynor in the comedy The Young in Heart (Richard Wallace, 1938) before Selznick lent her to MGM to appear in two films. The first of these, Dramatic School (Robert B. Sinclair, 1938), co-starred Luise Rainer, but the film received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. Her next film, The Women (George Cukor, 1939), was a success. With an all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, the film's supporting role of Miriam Aarons was played by Goddard. Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. fun."

David O' Selznick was pleased with Paulette Goddard's performances, particularly her work in The Young in Heart, and considered her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Initial screen tests convinced Selznick and director George Cukor that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, and she was the first actress given a Technicolor screen test. After he was introduced to Vivien Leigh, he wrote to his wife that Leigh was a "dark horse" and that his choice had "narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett, and Vivien Leigh". After a series of tests with Leigh that pleased both Selznick and Cukor, Selznick cancelled the further tests that had been scheduled for Goddard, and the part was given to Leigh. Goddard's next film, The Cat and the Canary (Elliott Nugent, 1939) with Bob Hope, was a turning point in the careers of both actors. The success of the film established her as a genuine star. Her performance won her a ten-year contract with Paramount Studios, which was one of the premier studios of the day. They promptly were re-teamed in The Ghost Breakers (George Marshall, 1940), again a huge hit. Goddard starred with Chaplin again in his film The Great Dictator (1940). In 1942, Goddard was granted a Mexican divorce from Chaplin. The couple split amicably, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. At Paramount, Goddard was used by Cecil B. De Mille in the action epic North West Mounted Police (1940), playing the second female lead. She was Fred Astaire's leading lady in the acclaimed musical Second Chorus/Swing it (H.C. Potter, 1940), where she met actor Burgess Meredith, her third husband. Goddard made Pot o' Gold (George Marshall, 1941), a comedy with James Stewart, then supported Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), from a script by Wilder and Brackett, directed by Mitchell Leisen. Goddard was teamed with Hope for a third time in Nothing But the Truth (Elliott Nugent, 1942), then made The Lady Has Plans (Sidney Lanfield, 1942), a comedy with Ray Milland. She co-starred with Milland and John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942), playing the lead, a Scarlett O'Hara type character. The film was a huge hit. Goddard did The Forest Rangers (George Marshall, 1942) with Fred MacMurray. One of her better-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm (George Marshall, 1943), in which she sang "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake.

Paulette Goddard received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (Mark Sandrich, 1943) opposite Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake. She didn't win, but it solidified her as a top draw. Goddard was teamed with Fred MacMurray in the delightful comedy Standing Room Only (Sidney Lanfield, 1944) and Sonny Tufts in I Love a Soldier (Mark Sandrich, 1944). In May 1944, she married Burgess Meredith at David O. Selznick's home in Beverly Hills. Goddard's most successful film was Kitty (Mitchell Leisen, 1945), in which she played the title role. Denny Jackson/Robert Sieger at IMDb: "The film was a hit with moviegoers, as she played an ordinary English woman transformed into a duchess. The film was filled with plenty of comedy, dramatic and romantic scenes that appealed to virtually everyone." In The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), Goddard starred with husband Burgess Meredith under the direction of Jean Renoir. It was made for United Artists. At Paramount she did Suddenly It's Spring (Mitchell Leisen, 1947) with Fred MacMurray, and De Mille's 18th-century romantic drama Unconquered (Cecil B. DeMille, 1947), with Cary Grant. During the Hollywood Blacklist, when she and blacklisted husband Meredith were mobbed by a baying crowd screaming "Communists!" on their way to a premiere, Goddard is said to have turned to her husband and said, "Shall I roll down the window and hit them with my diamonds, Bugsy?" In 1947, she made An Ideal Husband in Britain for Alexander Korda and was accompanied on a publicity trip to Brussels by Clarissa Spencer-Churchill, niece of Sir Winston Churchill and future wife of future Prime Minister Anthony Eden. She divorced Meredith in June 1949 and also left Paramount. In 1949, she formed Monterey Pictures with John Steinbeck. Goddard starred in Anna Lucasta (Irving Rapper, 1949), then went to Mexico for The Torch (Emilio Fernández, 1950). In England, she was in Babes in Bagdad (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1952), then she went to Hollywood for Vice Squad (Arnold Laven, 1953) with Edward G. Robinson, and Charge of the Lancers (William Castle, 1954) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Her last starring role was in the English production A Stranger Came Home/The Unholy Four (Terence Fisher, 1954).

Paulette Goddard began appearing in summer stock and on television, guest-starring on episodes of Sherlock Holmes, an adaptation of The Women, this time playing the role of Sylvia Fowler, The Errol Flynn Theatre, The Joseph Cotten Show, and The Ford Television Theatre. She was in an episode of Adventures in Paradise and a TV version of The Phantom. After her marriage to Erich Maria Remarque in 1958, Goddard largely retired from acting and moved to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland. In 1964, she attempted a comeback in films with a supporting role in the Italian film Gli indifferenti/Time of Indifference (Francesco Maselli, 1964), starring Claudia Cardinale and Rod Steiger, which was her last feature film. After Remarque's death in 1970, she made one last attempt at acting, when she accepted a small role in an episode of the TV series The Snoop Sisters, The Female Instinct (Leonards Stern, 1972) with Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick. Upon Remarque's death, Goddard inherited much of his money and several important properties across Europe, including a wealth of contemporary art, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword among the old Hollywood élite. During the 1980s, she became a fairly well known (and highly visible) socialite in New York City, appearing covered with jewels at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men, including Andy Warhol, with whom she sustained a friendship for many years until his death in 1987. Paulette Goddard underwent invasive treatment for breast cancer in 1975, successfully by all accounts. In 1990, she died at her home in Switzerland from heart failure while under respiratory support due to emphysema, She is buried in Ronco Village Cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother. Goddard had no children. She became a stepmother to Charles Chaplin's two sons, Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin, while she and Charlie were married. In his memoirs, 'My Father Charlie Chaplin' (1960), Charles Jr. describes her as a lovely, caring, and intelligent woman throughout the book. In October 1944, she suffered the miscarriage of a son with Burgess Meredith. Goddard, whose own formal education did not go beyond high school, bequeathed US$20 million to New York University (NYU) in New York City.

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Denny Jackson / Robert Sieger (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Photographed at Shoreline Lake Park, Mountain View, California

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From Wikipedia: The black-necked grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), known in North America as the eared grebe, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. It was described in 1831 by Christian Ludwig Brehm. There are currently three accepted subspecies, including the nominate subspecies. Its breeding plumage features a distinctive ochre-coloured plumage that extends behind its eye and over its ear coverts. The rest of the upper parts, including the head, neck, and breast, are coloured black to blackish brown. The flanks are tawny rufous to maroon-chestnut, and the abdomen is white. When in its non-breeding plumage, this bird has greyish-black upper parts, including the top of the head and a vertical stripe on the back of the neck. The flanks are also greyish-black. The rest of the body is a white or whitish colour. The juvenile has more brown in its darker areas. The subspecies californicus can be distinguished from the nominate by the former's usually longer bill. The other subspecies, P. n. gurneyi, can be differentiated by its greyer head and upper parts and by its smaller size. P. n. gurneyi can also be told apart by its lack of a non-breeding plumage. This species is present in parts of Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas.

The black-necked grebe uses multiple foraging techniques. Insects, which make up the majority of this bird's diet, are caught either on the surface of the water or when they are in flight. It occasionally practices foliage gleaning. This grebe dives to catch crustaceans, molluscs, tadpoles, and small frogs and fish. When moulting at saline lakes, this bird feeds mostly on brine shrimp. The black-necked grebe makes a floating cup nest on an open lake. The nest cup is covered with a disc. This nest is located both in colonies and by itself. During the breeding season, which varies depending on location, this species will lay one (sometimes two) clutch of three to four eggs. The number of eggs is sometimes larger due to conspecific brood parasitism. After a 21-day incubation period, the eggs hatch, and then the nest is deserted. After about 10 days, the parents split up the chicks between themselves. After this, the chicks become independent in about 10 days, and fledge in about three weeks.

Although it generally avoids flight, the black-necked grebe travels as far as 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) during migration. In addition, it becomes flightless for two months after completing a migration to reach an area where it can safely moult. During this moult, the grebe can double in weight. The migrations to reach these areas are dangerous, sometimes with thousands of grebe deaths. In spite of this, it is classified as a least concern species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is likely that this is the most numerous grebe in the world. There are potential threats to it, such as oil spills, but these are not likely to present a major risk to the overall population.

Taxonomy:

This species was first described by Carl Ludwig Hablitz in 1783 as Colymbus caspicus, from a bird in Bandar-e Anzali. This was originally thought to be a synonym for the horned grebe, until Erwin Stresemann discovered that the description applied more to the black-necked grebe in 1948. Before this, the earliest description was thought to be by Christian Ludwig Brehm in 1831, who gave this bird its current scientific name of Podiceps nigricollis from a German bird. To resolve this, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature suppressed the name C. caspicus. The genus name Dytes is sometimes used for this species, a placement which was formalized by Robert Ridgway in 1881.

This bird is closely related to the silvery grebe and the Junin grebe. The extinct Colombian grebe is sometimes considered to be a subspecies of this species, in addition to three other extant subspecies:

P. n. nigricollis – (Brehm, CL, 1831): nominate, is found from western Europe to western Asia (wintering to the south and west), in central and eastern Asia, and in eastern Africa

P. n. gurneyi – (Roberts, 1919): is found in southern Africa

P. n. californicus – (Heermann, 1854): is found from southwestern Canada through the western U.S. It winters as far south as Guatemala

The generic name, Podiceps, comes from two Latin words: podicis, meaning "vent" or "anus" and pes meaning "foot". This is a reference to the attachment point of the bird's legs—at the extreme back end of its body. The specific epithet nigricollis is Latin for "black-necked": niger means "black" and collis means "neck". The subspecies epithet californicus comes from "California", while gurneyi comes from the name of British ornithologist John Henry Gurney Sr.

"Black-necked grebe" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). Both common names for this species refer to features visible when the bird is in its breeding plumage; in such plumage, it has an all-black neck and a spray of golden plumes on each side of its head. The name "eared grebe" is nearly a century older than the name "black-necked grebe". The latter was first used in 1912 by Ernst Hartert, in an effort to bring the common name of the species in line with its scientific name. The name "eared grebe" is still used in North America to refer to this bird.

Description:

The black-necked grebe usually measures between 28 and 34 centimetres (11 and 13 in) in length and weighs 265 to 450 grams (9.3 to 15.9 oz). The nominate subspecies in breeding plumage has the head, neck, breast, and upper parts coloured black to blackish brown, with the exception of the ochre-coloured fan of feathers extending behind the eye over the eye-coverts and sides of the nape. This eye is mostly red, with a narrow and paler yellow ring on the inner parts of the eye and an orange-yellow to pinkish-red orbital ring. The thin, upturned bill, on the other hand, is black, and is connected to the eye by a blackish line starting at the gape. Sometimes, the foreneck can be found to be mostly tinged brown. The upperwing is blackish to drab brown in colour and has a white patch formed by the secondaries and part of the inner primaries. The flanks are coloured tawny rufous to maroon-chestnut and have the occasional blackish fleck. The underwing and abdomen is white, with an exception to the former being the dark tertials and the mostly pale grey-brown outer primaries. The legs are a dark greenish grey. The sexes are similar.

In non-breeding plumage, the nominate has greyish-black upper parts, cap, nape, and hindneck, with the colour on the upper portion of the latter being contained in a vertical stripe. The dark colour of the cap reaches below the eye and can be seen, diffused, to the ear-coverts. Behind the ear-coverts on the sides of the neck, there are white ovals. The rest of the neck is grey to brownish-grey in colour and has white that varies in amount. The breast is white, and the abdomen is whitish. The flanks are coloured in a mix of blackish-grey with white flecks. The colour of the bill when not breeding differs from that of the breeding plumage, with the former being significantly more grey.

The juvenile black-necked grebe is similar to the non-breeding adult. There are differences, however, including the fact that the dark areas are usually more brownish in the juvenile, with less black. The lores are often tinged pale grey, with whitish marks behind the eye. On the sides of the head and upper neck, there is a buffy or tawny tinge. The chick is downy and has a blackish-grey head with stripes and spots that are white or pale buff-grey. The throat and foreneck are largely pale. The upper parts are mostly dark grey in colour, and the abdomen is white.

The subspecies californicus usually has a longer bill compared to the nominate, and has brown-grey inner primaries during the breeding season. When not breeding, the nominate has diffuse and pale lores less often than Podiceps nigricollis californicus. The other subspecies, P. n. gurneyi, is the smallest of the three subspecies, in addition to having a greyer head and upper parts. The adult of this subspecies also has a rufous-brown tinge on its lesser wing-coverts. It also lacks a non-breeding plumage, in addition to the tufts on the side of its head being paler.

Vocalizations:

When breeding, the black-necked grebe gives a quiet "ooeek" that ascends in pitch from an already high pitch. This call is also used as a territorial call, in addition to a low and fast trill, which itself is also used during courtship. Another call is a short "puuii" or "wit". This grebe is silent when it is not the breeding season and when it is feeding or resting.

Distribution and habitat:

This species breeds in vegetated areas of freshwater lakes across Europe, Asia, Africa, northern South America and the southwest and western United States. After breeding, this bird migrates to saline lakes to moult. Then, after completing the moult and waiting for sometimes several months, it migrates to winter in places such as the south-western Palearctic and the eastern parts of both Africa and Asia. It also winters in southern Africa, another place where it breeds. In the Americas, it winters as far south as Guatemala, although the wintering population there is mainly restricted to islands in the Gulf of California, the Salton Sea, and Baja California. When not breeding, its habitat is primarily saline lakes and coastal estuaries.

Behaviour:

This grebe is highly gregarious, usually forming large colonies when breeding and large flocks when not.

Breeding:

This species builds its floating nest in the usually shallow water of open lakes. The nest itself is anchored to the lake by plants. It is built by both the male and female and made out of plant matter. Most of it is submerged, with the bottom of the shallow cup usually being level with the water. Above the cup, there is a flat disc. This grebe nests both in colonies and by itself. When it does not nest by itself, it will often nest in mixed-species colonies that are made up of birds such as black-headed gulls, ducks, and various other waterbirds. Whether it nests in colonies or not has an effect on the dimensions of the nest. When the bird is not in a colony, the nest has an average diameter of 28 centimetres (11 in), although this can vary, with nests ranging from about 20 centimetres (8 in) to over 30 centimetres (12 in). This is compared to nests in colonies, which have an average diameter of about 25.5 centimetres (10 in). It is suggested that rarely some pairs of this grebe will steward over multiple nests when in colonies.

Pair formation in the black-necked grebe usually starts during pauses in the migration to the breeding grounds, although it occasionally occurs before, in wintering pairs. This pair formation continues after this grebe has arrived to its breeding grounds. Courtship occurs when it arrives at the breeding lake. The displays are performed in the middle of the lake. There is no territory involved in courting; individuals used the whole area of the lake. When advertising for a mate, a black-necked grebe will approach other black-necked grebes with its body fluffed out and its neck erect. It closes its beak to perform a call, poo-eee-chk, with the last note only barely audible. Courtship generally stops at the start of nesting.

In the Northern Hemisphere, this bird breeds from April to August. In east Africa, the breeding season is at least from January to February, while in southern Africa, the breeding season is from October to April.

The black-necked grebe is socially monogamous. Conspecific or intraspecific brood parasitism, where the female lays eggs in the nest of others of their own species is common with nearly 40% of nests being parasitized on average. In terms of territory, this grebe will only defend its nest site.

This grebe lays a clutch, and sometimes two clutches, of three to four chalky greenish or bluish eggs. Nests that have been parasitized, however, will have two more eggs on average, even though the amount that the host lays is about the same no matter if it has been parasitized or not. The eggs, although they are initially immaculate, do get stained by the plant matter that the nest is built out of. The eggs measure 45 by 30 millimetres (1.8 by 1.2 in) on average and are incubated by both parents for about 21 days. The laying date of the eggs is somewhat synchronized, with birds in small colonies having the laying dates spread out by just a few days, compared to large colonies, where the laying date is spread out over more than 10 days.

After the chicks hatch, the birds will desert their nest. Even though the young can swim and dive during this time, they rarely do, instead staying on the parents' backs for four days after hatching. After about 10 days, the parents split the chicks up, with each parent taking care of about half of the brood. After this split, the chicks are independent in about 10 days, and fledge in about three weeks.

When disturbed while incubating, this bird usually (just under 50% of the time) partly covers its eggs with nest material when the disruption is not sudden, but a bird with an incomplete clutch usually does not attempt to cover the eggs. When the disruption is sudden, on the other hand, the black-necked grebe usually (just under 50% of the time) does not cover its eggs. In comparison, other species of grebes cover up their eggs when leaving the nest. Predation is usually not the primary cause of egg loss, with most nesting failures occurring after the chicks have hatched. A major cause of this is the chilling of the young.

Feeding:

The black-necked grebe forages mainly by diving from the water, with dives usually lasting less than 30 seconds. These dives are usually shorter in time when in more shallow water. In between dives, this grebe rests for an average of 15 seconds. It also forages by gleaning foliage, plucking objects off of the surface of water, having its head submerged while swimming, and sometimes capturing flying insects.

This grebe eats mostly insects, of both adult and larval stages, as well as crustaceans, molluscs, tadpoles, and small frogs and fish. When moulting at lakes with high salinity, although, this bird feeds mostly on brine shrimp. The behaviour of black-necked grebes changes in response to the availability of brine shrimp; bodies of water with more shrimp have more grebes, and grebes spend more time foraging when the amount of shrimp and the water temperature decreases.

The young are fed one at a time by the parents, with one bird carrying the young while the other feeds it. The young take food by grabbing it, with their beaks, from their parents, or by grabbing food dropped into the water. When a young bird cannot grab the food, then the adults submerge their bill into the water and shake their bill to break up the food.

Moult and migration:

When breeding is over, the black-necked grebe usually partakes in a moult migration to saline lakes. It especially prefers lakes with large numbers of invertebrate prey, so that it can fatten up while moulting and before going on its winter migration. Some birds, although, moult when on the breeding grounds, but most do not moult until the end of the moult migration. This migration is dangerous, with hundreds and sometimes thousands of birds being killed by snowstorms when traveling to places such as Mono Lake.

When it finishes its moult migration, this bird moults its remiges between August and September, which makes it unable to fly. This moult is preceded by an increase in weight. During the moult, the breast muscles atrophy. When the moult is completed, this grebe continues to gain weight, often more than doubling its original weight. This additional fat is used to power the black-necked grebe's overnight fall migration to its wintering grounds. The fat is most concentrated in the abdomen, second most in the thorax, and least in the chest. This bird usually starts its migration earlier when shrimp is more abundant and when the moulting lake is at a higher than average temperature. It generally leaves on a clear night with lower than average surface temperatures.

Movement:

This grebe is one of the most inefficient fliers among birds. Generally, it avoids flying at all costs and reserves long-distance flight exclusively for migration. This is combined with the fact that this bird is flightless for two months of the year during its moult. However, when migrating, it travels as much as 6,000 kilometres (3,700 miles) to reach rich feeding areas that are exploited by few other species. In flight, the shape of this grebe is like a loon: straight neck, legs trailing, and wings beating often.

When diving, this bird pulls its head back and then arches it forward into the water, with the body following and a slight springing. The legs only start moving when they are underwater. When swimming on the surface of the water, the body of this grebe is relatively high, although none of the underparts are seen. The neck is held straight up in a relaxed manner, with the bill being held forward and parallel to the water. Each of the feet perform strong alternating strokes.

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Nominate subspecies.While working in my home office, I spotted this tiny beauty foraging amongst ivy in my garden.

Gilwern, Abergavenny, Wales, UK.

Small German collectors card in the 'Film Stars der Welt ' series by Greiling-Sammelbilder, series E, no. 152. Photo: RKO.

American actress Janet Leigh (1927-2004) starred in more than 50 films, but will always be remembered for the 45 minutes that she was on the screen in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). Her shower scene became a film landmark. She was nominated for an Oscar and received a Golden Globe. Also unforgettable are her roles in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962), in which she starred with Frank Sinatra. Leigh and Tony Curtis were married from 1951 to 1962.

Janet Leigh was born Jeanette Helen Morrison in 1927 as the only child of a very young married couple, Helen Lita (née Westergaard) and Frederick Morrison in Merced, California. She spent her childhood moving from town to town due to her father's changing jobs. A bright child who skipped several grades in school, Leigh took music and dancing lessons, making her public debut at age 10 as a baton twirler for a marching band. Her favourite times were the afternoons spent at the local cinema, which she referred to as her "babysitter." After high school, she studied music and psychology at College of the Pacific in Stockton. In the winter of 1945, she stayed at Sugar Bowl, a ski resort in the Sierra Nevada mountains, with her parents. Leigh's mother was working at a ski lodge where actress Norma Shearer was vacationing. Shearer was impressed by a photograph of then-eighteen-year-old Leigh taken by the ski club photographer over the Christmas holiday. Shearer brought Leigh to the attention of MGM talent agent Lew Wasserman who offered the girl a contract. Leigh left the College of the Pacific to take acting lessons from Lillian Burns. Her prior acting experience consisted only of a college play. One year later Leigh was at MGM, playing the ingenue in the film Romance of Rosy Ridge (Roy Rowland, 1947), a big-screen romance in which she starred opposite veteran Hollywood actor Van Johnson. The studio changed her name into Janet Leigh. The Romance of Rosy Ridge was a box-office success and the same year Leigh was cast for the film If Winter Comes (Victor Saville, 1947) with Walter Pidgeon and Deborah Kerr. The young actress became one of the busiest contractees at the studio, building her following with solid performances in such films as Little Women (Mervyn LeRoy, 1949), The Doctor and the Girl (Curtis Bernhardt, 1950) as Glenn Ford's love interest, and the Swashbuckler Scaramouche (George Sidney, 1952), starring Stewart Granger.

Janet Leigh caught the eye of RKO Radio's owner Howard Hughes, who hoped that her several RKO appearances on loan from MGM would lead to something substantial in private life. Instead, Leigh married Tony Curtis who became her third husband at 25. During her final year of high school, Leigh married eighteen-year-old John Kenneth Carlisle in Reno in 1942. The marriage was annulled five months later. Her second marriage to Stanley Reames (1946-1948) lasted two years. Curtis and Leigh became the darlings of fan magazines and columnists, as well as occasional co-stars in such films as Houdini (George Marshall , 1953), The Black Shield of Falworth (Rudolph Maté, 1954), and The Vikings (Richard Fleischer, 1958) with Kirk Douglas. Even as this 'perfect' Hollywood marriage deteriorated in the late 1950s, Leigh's career prospered. In the Film Noir Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958), she starred opposite Charlton Heston and Orson Welles. Among her significant roles in the 1960s were that of Frank Sinatra's enigmatic lady friend in The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962), and Paul Newman's ex-wife in the mystery Harper (Jack Smight, 1966). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "and, of course, the unfortunate embezzler in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), who met her demise in the nude (actually covered by a moleskin) and covered with blood (actually chocolate sauce, which photographed better) in the legendary 'shower scene'." The part of Marion Crane would become her most famous role and she received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for it.

Meanwhile, Janet Leigh had become the mother of two daughters, Kelly (1956) and Jamie-Lee (1958) and had divorced Tony Curtis in 1962. In the same year, she remarried stockbroker Robert Brandt, with whom she would remain for the next 42 years. In order to spend more time with her family, Leigh began to put her career on hold. She mainly played roles in television productions such as Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1964-1966), The Red Skelton Show (1969), and Tales of the Unexpected (1982-1984). Notable were her appearances in the feature-length television film The House on Greenapple Road (Robert Day, 1970) and her role as a forgotten film actress in 'Forgotten Lady' (1975), an episode of the series Columbo. She made her Broadway debut in 1975 in a production of 'Murder Among Friends'. In the cinema, she starred in the supernatural horror film The Fog (John Carpenter, 1980) with her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis. In the 1980s, Leigh curtailed her film and TV appearances, though her extended legacy as both the star/victim of Psycho and the mother of actress Jamie Lee Curtis still found her a notable place in the world of cinema even if her career was no longer "officially" active. She co-starred with Jamie Lee again in the slasher Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (Steve Miner, 1998). Leigh wrote an autobiography 'There Really Was a Hollywood' (1984), and a non-fiction 'Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller' (1995, co-authored with Christopher Nickens), as well as two novels 'House of Destiny' (1996) and 'The Dream Factory' (2002). Janet Leigh died of vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels, in 2004, at home in Beverly Hills in the presence of her family. She was 77. Leigh was cremated and her ashes were entombed at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in the Westwood Village neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and IMDb.

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The nominated Bryce Canyon National Park Scenic Trails District consists of five structures including the Navajo Loop Trail, the Queen's Garden Trail, the Peekaboo Loop Trail, the Fairyland Trail, and the Rim Trail. All of these structures are located within the scenic heartland of the park-between Fairyland Point to the north and Bryce Point to the south. Although the trails have individual names, they do intersect with one another, forming a contiguous series of paths that provide visual and physical access to the erosional features that characterize Bryce Canyon National Park (BRCA).

The Queen's Garden Trail (an unpaved graded trail between three and five feet in width) accesses the area below the plateau rim between Sunrise and Sunset points. The length of the Queen's Garden Trail is listed in various documents as .8 or 1.8 miles in length, depending upon whether or not one includes both the canyon bottom and switchback segments under the designation. This trail provides access to the rock formation known as Queen Victoria. The upper portion of the trail is cut through bare sandstone with little or no vegetation. However, vegetation increases as one descends into the bottom of Bryce Canyon. Scattered stands of ponderosa pine, bristlecone pine, and brushy understory vegetation occur adjacent to the trail. Notable features of the trail include two tunnels cut through a sandstone ridge.

A comparison of historic and modern maps indicates that the current alignment of the Queen's Garden Trail follows closely the trail as it was constructed in 1929. Modifications have been made due to erosion, rock fall, etc., however these are to be expected given the character of the natural environment within BRCA. This trail continues to provide access to the formation known as "Queen Victoria" and provides hikers with vistas that are little changed since the historical period. (1)References (1) NRHP Nomination Form npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/95000422.pdf

A beautiful member of the Roller family. Serengeti Tanzania